Rising Darkness
by badwolf1
Summary: Jimmy Neutron has met his ultimate enemy. Now it threatens Earth with a device that could wipe out the human race... Final chapter online!
1. Chapter 1

Well here is your sequel. Earlier than expected, if you have not read Revenge Of The billion Dollar Boy you are advised to do so first. Please r+r my stories even my old ones.

_**Rising Darkness. **_

_**Chapter One- Fall of the future.**_

" Hurry up Cindy we haven't got time!" Shouted a man, with piercing blue eyes and a red T-shirt. A girl of equal age looked up at him she had blonde hair, which she wore let down, she also had deep green eyes.

"I'm coming as fast as I can." The man looked out of a window and saw robots coming towards it. Fear spread through his body.

"Cindy you need to move faster." She noticed the quiver in his voice and said.

"They're not coming are they?" The man stayed quiet, a bad sign. "Tell me they're not coming," still silence. "Jimmy tell me they aren't on their way." Jimmy looked at her and did not say a word. She began to pack quickly. Jimmy watching the machines waiting for them to make a move, they stood in lines waiting for something. Or someone. Jimmy realised what they were doing.

"Get out now!" He screamed at his wife, she gazed at him in confusion. "It's him the general, they've sent the general." Cindy turned pale and ran for the door, her husband quickly following her. Jimmy looked at the city around him; it was a ruin a desolate wasteland. Tears filled Jimmy's eyes; this was his childhood home. He, Jimmy Neutron had lived here for eighteen years and now the city was gone. Cindy leapt into their car and started up the engine. Turning around Jimmy saw a sight that terrified him. A figure wearing a cape. A figure wearing dark clothing. The general. An evil that had destroyed almost everything, the leader of the machine armies. The robots raised their lasers and blasted the house. It fell to pieces and the machines turned and began to pursue the fugitives. Their lasers hit the wheels and Jimmy and Cindy were thrown out of the car.

The robots were coming for them; they were taking their time there was no where for the two to run. Jimmy checked his laser rifle and looked at the sky. Cindy looked at him with a look of shock on her face.

"You can't face them Jimmy, you'll get killed." She said sadly.

"It's a good day to die." He muttered and ran towards them, firing. The machines raised their own laser guns and fired…

In the present day, a thirteen-year-old Jimmy Neutron was working on an invention in his lab. There was a knocking at the door and Cindy Vortex appeared on the monitor, Jimmy grinned Cindy was his new girlfriend and had been for the past eight months. Her yelling however interrupted his train of thought.

"Jimmy! Let me in, I am warning you right now just because I love you doesn't mean I won't slap you!" The words motivated Jimmy and he quickly let her in, a stupid grin still on his face. Cindy gazed at him.

"What are you grinning about Neutron?" She said in a playful voice, Cindy still used nicknames for Jimmy, but he knew she didn't mean anything by them anymore.

"Well I was just grinning about the face I have two tickets for Retroland, I was going to take my girlfriend, but I think that Betty Quinlan would much rather go with me than her." Cindy snarled, she hated Betty Quinlan, she had to be little miss perfect and for years Jimmy had had a huge crush on her. This infuriated Cindy more than anything else, but she knew how to counter Jimmy's little comment. She smiled.

"Well that's all right then because I just came over to tell you me and Nick Dean are going on a trip to the mall." Now it was Jimmy's turn to snarl. They both looked at each other for a second and smiled. They were meant to be together they knew that, after they had beaten Eustace Strych together they had finally realised it. Grabbing Cindy's hand in his own, Jimmy looked into her eyes and said.

"Retroland and the mall then? Cindy laughed.

"Sure how about the Candy Bar afterwards? Sheen and Libby are probably there as well." Jimmy nodded.

"Okay then, but you are buying the snacks at the Candy Bar." Cindy turned around sharply.

"No way Nerdtron you are buying!" Jimmy laughed.

"Race to you Retroland, loser buying at the Candy Bar later!" The two teenagers began to run; they loved each other as much as the air they breathed. Nothing was too big for Cindy and Jimmy to conquer, they knew that their love could defeat anything, and they believed it would remain that way forever. But they were wrong, their love could not destroy the true darkness, it had bided its time until now; now it would strike. Some would survive, if they were lucky. Jimmy and Cindy spent the day together; Jimmy won the race so Cindy was buying when they went the Candy Bar. They entered the Candy Bar and Jimmy went to order.

"Not to expensive." Warned Cindy, Jimmy simply laughed and went to the queue. Cindy spotted Libby and Sheen sitting at their own booth, and went over to talk to them. Over the last five months, Sheen and Libby had become a couple and now went almost everywhere together.

"What's up Libby?" Asked Cindy inquisitively as she took a seat next to her best friend.

"Nothing much, just having a quick drink before going to the park for a quick walk. You and Jim coming?" Cindy nodded.

"Yeah sure why not, could be some fun." Jimmy arrived with two milkshakes and sat next to Sheen; Carl had gone on vacation for four months in the Bahamas so it was just the four. They quickly finished their milkshakes and Cindy paid for them. The two couples made their way to the park, sitting on top of a hill they watched the sun set. Jimmy had never been happier, no threats, no mortal enemies, just him and Cindy Vortex; and all the time in the world.

(a.n. So tell me what you thought. Good, bad just review! Oh and please read missing you- a little one-shot I though of. If people like it I will do a sequel, so tell me what you think!)


	2. Chapter 2

Hi I am really sorry about the delay, but my computer broke down again. It's fixed now though, the other chapters should be out when I say they will be.

_**Chapter 2- Rescue.**_

The Jimmy Neutron of the future charged, even if he did die, he was taking the machines with him. He barrel rolled to his left and then his right evading the blasts, his bullets ripped through two of them. Jimmy smiled and his eyes darkened.

"Two down, only about twenty thousand to go…" Cindy was also holding her own against the evil robots, but she knew like her husband; that they did not have much time left. The sky became black and foreboding, today was special today would see the downfall of the Neutron's.

Deep empty mechanical eyes surveyed the situation; Neutron had escaped and was putting up a fight. A grin almost passed over the General's stony features. Almost. It had been years since he had smiled, or even had felt any emotion except hate. Jimmy had caused him to be like this. Jimmy and Cindy together, they had plotted against him. But now he would have the last laugh, when they were dead total darkness would rule. For all eternity. Everything was going as his master had planned not even Jimmy and Cindy Neutron could stop them now. He stepped into the battlefield, Neutron had done well but he would not beat him. Nothing ever had, or ever would. Uzi's appeared in his hands, he preferred the classic weapons, bullets ripped everywhere. This was going to be fun.

Jimmy and Cindy were out of ammo; they sat hiding in an old house. It would not be long before it was over. Jimmy looked into her eyes and smiled.

"Remember when we first realised we were in love Cindy?" His wife also smiled, those years of her life had been perfect.

"Of course, how we beat Eustace together, how we did everything together, how we believed that our love could beat anything." She stuttered, and tears formed in her eyes. Those had been simpler times, before this nightmare. Now she let the tears run freely, everything she had truly loved with all her heart. They were dead, except for Jimmy. She knew he would never leave her. Nothing could separate them. She felt her husbands warm hands wipe away her tears.

"Don't cry Cindy, I hate to see you like this, our love can beat anything." Cindy stopped sobbing and turned to face Jimmy.

"But how? How Jimmy? It's over we have lost, we are about to die alone."

"Cynthia Aurora Neutron listen to me, we will survive, our love will last the ages and we are not alone. We have never been alone, we have each other." This stopped Cindy from crying completely, she kissed Jimmy.

"Thank you Jimmy Neutron I was lucky to have ever married you." Jimmy laughed.

"That was fate Cindy, remember we are destined to be together forever and don't you forget it." He stopped, footsteps could be heard outside. Heavy mechanical footsteps. The General. Fear swept over Jimmy, but he stayed strong; he had to be for the both of them. Holding Cindy's hand and squeezing tightly, they both solemnly walked outside.

"Whatever happens we have each other right." Muttered Jimmy, Cindy nodded.

Three people began to drive as fast as possible.

"Step on it Sheen! We've got to hurry." Shouted an Egyptian girl. Sheen snarled.

"I'm going as fast as I can Libby, don't worry we'll get there in time." Libby Estevez looked worried, if they did not hurry; then Jimmy and Cindy would be… It was too horrible to even think about. She turned and saw Carl watching for machines. Carl Wheezer was no longer a boy who not only scared easily, but was allergic to everything. Instead four years straight of going to the gym, and a little help from Jimmy for his allergies, Carl had become strong and was now only allergic to dog hair and oranges. They pulled up and saw Jimmy and Cindy backed up against a wall; Carl sprung into action and fired double laser guns. The general turned and evaded the attack. Sheen started up the car and everyone got in, Carl continued to fire. Sheen pulled up beside Jimmy and Cindy and they jumped in.

"Drive Sheen!" Screamed Cindy, he did not need telling twice, and the car zoomed off.

The General watched them disappear and activated a hologram. A man appeared; black eyes gazed at him. The great tyrant of the universe. The leader of all shadows. His lord and master.

"Master." The machine drawled quietly. The eyes stared at him.

"What do you have to report General? Good news I hope, you know how I hate disappointment."

"Unfortunately my lord, Neutron has escaped." His masters voiced turned to a hiss.

"What? How could you let him escape?"

"Some members of the resistance attacked, they caught me off my guard. It will not happen again."

"The resistance? That still exists, wipe them out! Now, destroy those fools." The General bowed.

"Yes master." He turned to walk away, but was called back."

"Oh and General it had better not happen again, for your sake." The hologram vanished and the General pocketed it. So Neutron thought he could run, then let the hunt begin.

A.N. So here was the second chapter, what do you think? Check my profile for when the next chapter will be out, plus a sneak previewof it at the same time! See you on Saturday- badwolf1


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter 3- Postcards and diaries.**_

Jimmy woke up and smiled, he had done this every morning since Cindy agreed to be his girlfriend. He went down stairs and found a letter addressed to him, he picked it up ashe sat down. Judy Neutron served her son breakfast, noticing he was reading a letter she asked who it was from.

"It's from Carl, he is having a great time and everything is fine." Replied Jimmy casually, his eyes still skimming over the letter.

"What are you doing today then? Going out with Cindy again?" Questioned Judy, she liked Cindy Vortex and always had done. Although Jimmy had used to complain about her, she had known that he had liked her. Even when he did not. The genius looked up.

"We're meeting in the lab at twelve before going on to The Golden Swan together." Judy was very surprised; The Golden Swan was one of the best restaurants in town. The food was to die for, but the prices were for the rich and powerful.

"How are you going to afford it?" She asked, her sons allowance definitely would not cover the bill.

"Well remember when Eustace's accounts were taken control of?" Said Jimmy quickly.

"Yes of course."

"Well as a reward for stopping him, Retroville bank gave me some of the money from his accounts." He finished acting as if it was not a big deal.

"But he was a millionaire; does that mean you are a millionaire now? And why weren't we told?" His mother inquired. Jimmy shook his head.

"They just gave me a sum of money and put in my private account." Judy's eyes went wide.

"You have a private account?" She said. Jimmy stared at her.

"Do you know me at all? Yes I have a private account you cannot be the smartest kid in the world and not have one, second I assumed you knew about the bank giving me the money. Now any more questions?" He replied out of breath.

"How much did you get?" Judy asked him. Jimmy shrugged his shoulders.

"Fifteen thousand dollars." Judy almost fainted; Jimmy just walked past her and went to have a shower.

Cindy woke up and simply went downstairs. Her mum and Dad greeted her, and she grabbed her toast. Her mum was cooking bacon and eggs, whilst her dad read the paper. She ate her toast and checked the time. Only 11:15, plenty of time before she had to meet Jimmy. Kicking back, she grinned and grabbed a book. Only forty-five minutes to go.

Jimmy finished having a shower and put on a suit, there was a dress code at The Golden House. He checked the time, only 11:30 he had ages. He decided to read his postcard again, just to kill some time. Only half an hour to go he thought. He began to read the postcard and felt he was missing something. He read repeatedly, and finally saw it. He grabbed the telephone and dialled.

Cindy finished the chapter and turned the page. It was 11:45, not long now. The phone rang twice before her mum answered it.

"Cindy its Jimmy." She said simply and went back to cleaning; she liked Jimmy and knew that Cindy was happy with him. That was all that mattered to her. Frowning Cindy picked up the telephone, why was he ringing this early?

"Hi Jim, what's up?"

"Cindy get over here now." She tried to interrupt but was stopped. "Just get over here now, I got a letter off Carl you need to see it." The phone hung up. Cindy grabbed a coat and went straight to her Jimmy's house. She went straight to the lab, and found Jimmy waiting for her.

"Quick read the letter." He said, Cindy nodded and began to read.

_Hi Jimmy,_

_Everything is fine,_

_Lately things have been boring, my_

_Parents are always busy so I am on my own._

_My parents basically leave me to do what I want,_

_Everything here is really cool Jimmy you should see it,_

_The hotel is really big,_

_Hotels aren't normally this big, or at least I don't think so,_

_Everyone here is really nice and kind,_

_Yossouf he's the waiter lets me sample the food,_

_Cooking in a hotel must be hard work it is _

_Annoying though when people don't say _

_Please and _

_Thank you my mum says manners are of the _

_Utmost importance, I don't think Libby would like it here_

_Rock and roll music is not played often here_

_Eating here is fantastic the food is lovely you_

_Do not want to eat too much though you will get a stomach-ache_

_Understanding the foreign language is hard anyway_

_See you soon- Carl. _Cindy finished reading and shrugged her shoulders.

"Seems like an ordinary postcard the only thing I see wrong with it is Carl's appalling layout and punctuation." Jimmy brought something up on the screen.

"Take a look at this then." Jimmy pointed toward the screen, and Carl's postcard came up. The computer highlighted the first letter of every word, and it spelled a message. HELP ME THEY CAPTURED US. Cindy looked shocked, Carl was in trouble and it sounded like big trouble.

"What do we do now?" Jimmy thought for a second.

"Well no point discussing it on an empty stomach, let's go to dinner we can talk there." Cindy nodded and grabbed her coat, and they exited together.

"What do we tell the others?" Asked Cindy as they sat down for dinner.

"We don't on point getting them worried, we have to handle this ourselves." Cindy frowned; she did not like keeping secrets from her friends.

"Why don't you tell them they can handle it." Jimmy shook his head.

"I know this may sound harsh, but I don't think I can trust Sheen with this kind of information. We need to keep this secret and I do not think he could." Cindy understood that, Sheen did have a nasty habit of revealing information that was meant to be secret. Their orders came and they ate in silence. After they both finished their meal and left. Walking back to their houses; they both agreed to keep Carl's predicament to themselves.

Cindy came into her home and grabbed her diary, she began to write.

_Dear Diary,_

_Today Jimmy took me out for lunch at The Golden Swan. It was lovely; we both had the fillet steak, I had never tasted food so nice. Mum cooks lovely, but this was heavenly. Anyway, before that we read a postcard sent from Carl. It seemed like a normal card, but it contained a hidden message that said he had been captured and needed help. I am worried, what if he is hurt? I know I have treated him badly, but I do really like him. It is not his fault he had so many allergies, I would feel bad if he got hurt. And I cannot even begin to comprehend what Jimmy would do. What's worse is I have to keep this a secret from Libby and Sheen, I can handle Sheen, but Libby's my best friend. How can lie to her? I will just have to try, if Jimmy wants me to do it they I will do my best. I will write again tomorrow._

_Cindy Vortex- A.K.A Mrs Cindy Neutron. (One day hopefully anyway!)_

Cindy finished writing and lay down her pen. She went downstairs and got a drink, an hour later she went to bed. As she went to sleep Cindy thought about what was happening to Carl, where was he now? What was happening to him, she hoped he was all right. An image of Jimmy flashed in her mind, and a smile lit her up her face. He would get her through it, he always had. And Jimmy had never let her down, and she knew he never would.

A.N. I released this quicklyI know, butI felt that after having to wait so long for chapter two you were owed chapter three. By the wayI have a new email address which you can use. Remember to check my profile for info on up coming fanfics and new chapters.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter 4- Holiday from hell. **_

"Move it boy, don't make kill you ten weeks early." Shouted a cruel man, as Carl began to lift heavy machinery. He strained himself and just about managed to lift the tools. As he carried them to the conveyer belt, he thought about the start of this holiday. About how him and his family had been captured.

_Carl and his parents arrived at the hotel. They went to the reception._

"_Hi we are here of the four month vacation." His dad had said. The receptionist simply nodded and pointed towards a door. They entered and found the room was pitch black, Carl switched on the light; and a terrible sight greeted his eyes. Dead people, and lots of them. They lay on the floor, scars covering their bodies, even some with their limbs removed. Carl thought he was going to sick, him and family ran out back to the receptionist. The woman was now holding a gun, fear sunk into Carl, this was no holiday. _

_A tall man stepped into the room. He had a clean- face, black hair and shallow green eyes. _

"_You must be the Wheezers allow me to introduce myself I am Mr Hunt, the leader of project DV." His voice was charming and sounded much like a lord's or kings, but something was different about this man. His clothes also had the making of somebody with power. However, what would a clearly respectable person have to do with those bodies?_

"_What are you doing you madman I demand you release me and my family at once!" Mr Hunt remained exceptionally calm and smiled horribly._

"_If you want to leave sir please, be my guest." His voice was to calm, far to relaxed. He was up to something. Mr Wheezer turned around, headed for the door, there was a loud noise, and Mr Wheezer was on the floor. Carl turned; and the receptionist was pointed her gun at where his Dad had been seconds before._

"_Dad!" He ran up to his father and began to cry, three bullets were in his back. His dad smiled, this was the most terrible sight of all, how could he smile at a time like this. He drew his last breath and died. Mr Hunt wandered over as if absolutely nothing had happened, and checked his Dad's body. After a few seconds, he nodded, and a team of men came and carried the dead Mr Wheezer away. Mrs Wheezer stood paralysed with fear, while Carl stared with hating eyes at the man responsible. He charged, not caring what happened. Hunt turned and moved his wrist in a fluid motion; a whip came out of his sleeve and cracked Carl in the face. The thirteen-year-old fell and clutched his face, dreams of vengeance forgotten. The shallow green pools had become burning with fiery rage, and he brought the whip down and down again. He continuously smacked Carl, until he fell into unconsciousness. _

Carl touched his face, he has been scarred by the attack, and it still hurt at times. He thought of his dad and tears filled his eyes, he hadn't stood a chance from that range. Mr Hunt made them work for hours, then he let them rest for thirty minutes, and then they had to work again. They were transporting items for some kind of virus. Carl moved the packets to the side and carried on; it had been a week and a half since he had sent the postcard. Had his best friend even got his message? But what could he do even if he did arrive. Mr Hunt had armed guards and he was extremely dangerous himself. Carl stared up at the sky, where are you dad he thought. I hope you're okay, and I hope you got my message Jimmy. In need your help right now. I just hope you make it.

Mr Hunt watched the people work, and was filled with joy. It was the perfect plan; advertise for a four-month vacation; including schooling to prevent families staying away, and you had hundreds of workers. The cherry on the cake though was the arrival of Carl Wheezer; he was a special case and would be treated far more harshly than the rest. A beeping noise came from his pocket and he pulled out a holographic projector.

"Yes my lord." Said Mr Hunt loyally, as his master appeared.

"How goes your plan Captain B?" The master referred to his captains as letters, saving the use of their identities.

"It goes well my lord; the virus will be released on schedule." The master scoffed.

"I do not care about your pathetic plan captain B, how goes treatment of Carl Wheezer?" Mr Hunt was surprised, why did Wheezer matter so much?

"He is being beaten daily, and will be killed as soon as the project is finished." The shadowy figure smiled.

"Good, he is the key to my ultimate success. I do not want failure again B, I am sending over the general to monitor your progress." Hunt's eyes grew wide with fear and annoyance.

"I do not need that piece of garbage's help I will do this by myself." The master seemed to be amused.

"Really, very well then captain B do as you wish. But I warn you failure will mean death, I will not be merciful, oh and I will be sure to mention your comments to the general. I am sure he will appreciate your remarks." Mr Hunt bowed.

"Yes master, I will not fail you my lord." The hologram disappeared, and Mr Hunt was left standing in front of it. His eyes narrowed.

"We will see who threatens who after I unleash my virus, you fool. You and your robot will be destroyed, and then I will give the orders." Mr Hunt went to check on Carl; after all, he could not afford to lose his best hostage. Mr Hunt did not regret killing Mr Wheezer, if people were going to argue then they had to die. Not even the master could interfere with his plans this time; evil would prevail. Nothing could stop that. Nothing.

A.N.- So the plot thickens! How will this effect the future? We will find out in Chapter 5! By the way I am starting a competition, sometime in the week. The question will be released with my special Christmas edition fan fiction. A poetic Christmas! Until then-badwolf1


	5. Chapter 5

_**Chapter 5- Pain of the past.**_

Jimmy stared at his best friend as he screamed in agony. They were back in the resistance's secret base, and Carl was crying out painfully.

"Carl what's wrong? Is something bothering you?" Said Sheen, Cindy rolled her eyes. Although they now were part of the resistance, Cindy's dislike of Carl and Sheen had not diminished.

"Of course he is in pain ultrafreak, why else would he be screaming in distress?" She said sarcastically, Sheen was hurt by the words.

"Okay Cindy, I was only asking." Cindy realised that she had been harsh and apologised. Jimmy just watched his best friend; scars began to appear on his skin. Carl collapsed on the floor, and the four friends gathered around him.

"Why is he suffering Jimmy? What's wrong with him?" Asked Libby quietly, Jimmy shook his head. He did not understand; why were scars forming on Carl's skin? It was as if the past was changing, as if Carl was being tortured in the past.

"Stop, please stop. Please stop, just end it; end it now! Please god just kill me, I don't want to live anymore." Jimmy began to cry it hurt him so much to see his friend in pain. Carl gave a bloodcurdling scream, and took his last breath. Then he died.

Jimmy and the others wept, and wept. They did not understand how or why he had died, but he had. Jimmy's eyes hardened, many of his comrades had died beside him in the last two years. However, Carl had been his friend, since he had moved to Retroville at the age of seven. He would save him; he would not let Carl die like that.

"We are going to save him." He said suddenly. Sheen, Libby and Cindy looked up surprised.

"What do you mean Jimmy?" Inquired his wife.

"We are going back to the past, that's were Carl was killed. Not only that but we may be able to stop the man who caused all this." The others nodded; it was time to take the fight to the enemy.

"How are we going to go to the past Jimmy?" Said Libby, the twenty five-year-old genius thought about it and then remembered something was his past. The chronoarch, it should still be in the lab. If they could only get there… But the general was looking for them, it would be extremely dangerous; but Carl's life hung in the balance. Jimmy would do whatever it took to save hi. He walked towards the door, not even the general could stand between him and his chronoarch. Jimmy grabbed the car keys, the others followed him. This time they would fight. Even if it meant they died trying.

The general searched for the fugitives without any success, he looked around. The world was even more desolate than before, now that the virus had been released. Personally the general disagreed with Mr Hunt; and disapproved of his master's partnership with him. Nevertheless orders were orders, and he dared not dispute them. Unless on day he felt like dying, in which he would argue with the master. His machine soldiers searched everywhere; but could not find them. Then he heard something, a car being started up. He had found them. The general ran to his black hoverbike and started it up. He rose into the air; an alien race had built it for him. It was heavier than any car, but thanks to the superior technology was agile and fast. Now Neutron would die.

Jimmy and the others sped on as fast as they could; they were still ten miles away from the lab. Sheen watched the road, tears filled his eyes, he unlike Jimmy had lived here all his life. It tore him apart to see the city in ruins. A black hoverbike was gaining on them, the general occupying the driver's seat.

"Jimmy the general's gaining!" Shouted Sheen; Jimmy put his foot down on the accelerator. The car went faster and faster, but it was not going fast enough. The general caught them up, and rammed them. Jimmy swerved to the side of the road, and rammed the metal warrior back. The general snarled and raised his blaster.

"Goodbye Neutron's, it is time to die." Sheen raised his hand stupidly.

"Hey I am an Estevez! And so is Libby, we are not Neutron's!" The general gave a cry of annoyance.

"I do not care, either way prepare to die." He fired, and two of the car's tyres were shredded. Jimmy grimaced; driving a car with two tyres could prove to be difficult. The general sighed, this was taking to long. He would speed up the process. He rammed them again, and their car went straight towards a wall.

"Everybody get out!" Screamed Jimmy, the resistance leapt out of the car as it crashed and burnt. Pieces of metal rained them all. Jimmy got up slowly; the mechanical menace had dismounted and heading straight for him. Jimmy stared at the general; there was no way he would interfere with this mission. He drew his weapon and fired.

Cindy and the others stirred to find an amazing sight greet them. Jimmy fighting the general, and doing well. They had disposed of their firearms, and were battling with laser swords. The genius knocked his enemy's sword into the air, and put his own weapon straight through the general's chest. The machine simply gazed, surprised and collapsed. He had been stopped for now. Jimmy stared; he remained silent for a few seconds. Then he headed for the lab.

Jimmy activated the chronoarch, and set it for 2005. The year they would have been thirteen.

"Everybody ready?" They nodded, and stepped through the arch. Into their pasts…

A.N.- Thanks a lot for the reviews! They mean a lot to me, i will try to review your stories as well. Although it may take a while, by the wayanyone who really likes this story and wants to know more. You should read my Christmas special- A poetic Christmas!


	6. Chapter 6

_**Chapter 6- The ultimate evil.**_

The master leant back in his chair; he had just ended another transmission with the general's soldiers. It seemed like the resistance had gone back in time, in an attempt to stop him. Not to mention they had injured the General. If only they knew that he existed, but no they thought the general was behind it. He laughed; Neutron was a worthy foe. Yet he had no idea that; there was greater force behind the events, which had caused the ruin of Earth. He clicked his fingers and a monitor came up. Pictures of the resistance came into focus; he had wiped most of them out. However, Neutron was tricky; he had avoided the attempts on his life. So the cunning shadow had thought of a plan, he decided to kill Neutron in the past. This way he would never become the leader of the resistance. It was not that easy though; Jimmy could not be trapped easily. Then he had an even better idea, if he captured one of Neutron's friends. Then Neutron would follow. So he employed Mr Hunt and gave him a job. If he captured one of Jimmy's friends and used him as bait, he would be rewarded handsomely. And it was done, all the time Wheezer thought he had got away with sending the message. The master clicked his fingers, and another monitor came up. This one showed video feed from the situation in the Bahamas. The master began to watch.

_Carl sat in the corner of the large room crying, he was of course crying over the loss of his father. It had been a week since he had been killed, but the pain would not go away. If Jimmy was here then he would know what to do; but he was not here. Carl was alone; it was up to him to save everyone. And he wasn't sure he could do it. A boy approached him slowly; he paused and cleared his throat. Carl looked up, and dried his eyes._

"_You're Carl aren't you?" The young boy asked casually; Carl stared at him for a second. And then nodded slowly. The boy looked at him, his eyes full of understanding. Nevertheless, something else was hidden behind the understanding; this boy was hiding something._

"_Who are you?" Carl asked suspiciously, how did this child know his name? The boy looked around, people were watching them._

"_Not here, over here." And the boy dragged Carl away, towards a corner of the room where they could speak privately. Carl tried to speak, but the boy stopped him._

"_Me first," He said quickly and then he began to whisper, "my name is James, my father works with the police. And they know about Mr Hunt, but this place is massive. Not to mention full of troops, if they attacked here, then they could not guarantee everyone's safety. They heard that you were here, and your best friend is Jimmy Neutron. So…" Understanding dawned over Carl's face._

"_So you want Jimmy's mom to come, and bake them her special pies; that will stop this!" James smacked his head, clearly annoyed with Carl's stupidity._

"_No! I want you to contact Jimmy, and he will come up with a plan to stop this." Carl nodded, then stopped and looked sad._

"_What's wrong?" James asked him._

"_Well how am I going to contact Jimmy? He's miles away." James smiled._

"_Don't know we have this covered, write a secret message to him. After all it could be intercepted by the enemy, and my father arrives in two days. He is going to check out the place, if we can pass the message to him; or one of his officers. Then they will post it to Jimmy." Carl nodded, and ran back towards Mr Hunt; break was over and he was being forced to work._

The monitor disappeared, and the master laughed. James was completely loyal to him, and so were the police. Everything was perfect, and three more monitors appeared. The master nodded.

"Captain A, C, D. How goes the plan?" Captain A spoke first.

"I am with the General he appears to be badly damaged, in fact I think he may not work at all." At this, suddenly a massive hole appeared in Captain A's chest, blood spluttered everywhere. Captain A collapsed dead on the floor, and the General took his place in front of the monitor.

"Strange, the General seems to be working to me." He said amused, he turned to his loyal robotic servant.

"You stay on the transmission line; I will speak to you privately." The General bowed, and the master turned to Captain C.

"What do you have to report C?" James bowed slowly to his master.

"I have left the complex, and am making sure that young Mr Neutron will receive a warm welcome; the entire police force is prepared. He will not survive." The master nodded, and then thought again.

"Be careful C, the resistance are in the past. They will help Neutron, be prepared for a bigger army than originally expected." James bowed again, and then stood up quickly.

"How do they know to come to this time?"

"When Carl was eliminated form the timeline, everything immediately changed. The timeline left traces of the past, traces which come from your time. These are extremely hard to notice, but since our friend Jimmy is a genius…" C nodded, finally understanding.

"He managed to notice!" He said, his voice full of hatred. James ended the transmission. Captain D stepped forward, he was wearing a mask.

"Neutron is preparing himself for our surprise, he is gathering many inventions; in the hope that they will assist him."

"You are sure?"

"Definitely, he has not been seen for days; and he received the bait. This can only mean he is readying himself for action. As for the resistance, they have not arrived yet."

"Excellent D, continue your work." The transmission ended, and the master and The General were alone.

"What are my orders, my lord?"

"Go to the past, kill them all. Eliminate everyone. Destroy anything that can stop this. Finish off Neutron, and then go to the complex. And deal with Mr Hunt for good." The General bowed, and ended the transmission. The master laughed, everything was perfect. Nothing would stop the rise of the shadows, it was destiny. And destiny could not be averted. The robotic hand curled into a fist, the world would pay. No one would forget him.

"Nobody will forget the great…" A monitor rising interrupted him; it showed a scene from the past. Two years before Jimmy Neutron was born, but there he was. Fighting the master himself, so what was going on? Neutron had a machine in his hand, there was a massive blast. And then a woman appeared, she was pregnant. Clearly nine months, and she was caught in the blast. The monitor skipped forward a few weeks, and she was giving birth. The master gasped, that young boy could it be? He ran a scan over the boys blood, and then his own. The blast had not killed the young child, as it should have done. Instead it had combined the DNA of both Jimmy Neutron, and his own DNA. And had placed that inside the child, he was half Jimmy Neutron, half the ultimate evil. The master accelerated the monitor, and he saw who the child would become. He gazed at the screen.

"Jimmy Neutron created me?" The master said shocked.

A.N. Well that was nice little twist wasn't it? This chapter was difficult to write, I tried not to give to many clues to the identity of the master, but I am sure that many people will now know who he is. Feel free to tell me who you think he is, in either reviews or messages. And for those people who can not wait for the next chapters, then enter my competition in my Christmas special. It will be on my profile, the prize is Chapters 7- 18 of Rising Darkness. Then you will discover who the master is! So come on, enter! Here is a clue; you may need to read it out loud. The words are jumbled up, and you will never notice unless you read them out loud. Come on folks! That prize has got to go to someone! I will also be taking a rest for as few weeks, I only have Chapter 7 written, and I need chapters 8-20 written in about three weeks! That is a lot of work! Don't worry, if you do the quiz, then you will get your prize as soon as possible!- badwolf1.


	7. Chapter 7

_**Chapter 7- Keeping a secret.**_

Cindy walked to school alone; it had been four days since she and Jimmy had read the card. Every night her and Jimmy were working on weapons, but now came the hard part. She had to keep a secret from Libby, and Cindy felt extremely uneasy about it. She had always been honest with Libby, and in return, her friend had been truthful with her. She braced herself, the challenge had begun.

"Cindy!" Cindy turned around, and Libby was running up to her.

"Hey Libs, what's going on?" Libby shrugged her shoulders.

"Nothing really, me and Sheen went out again last night. We called you and Jimmy, but you didn't answer. Where have you two been lately? You're always busy." Cindy thought about it for a second, and then replied.

"We have just been talking, doing some repairs to Goddard." Libby stared at her.

"I thought Goddard was fixed, it has been eight months." Libby tried to make eye contact, but Cindy avoided her gaze.

"He is, but we were modifying him." Libby stared at her for a second longer, and nodded. However, she was still not convinced.

Libby kept looking at Cindy during school, she was sure that her friend was keeping something from her. And she would find out what.

"So Cindy, are you and Jimmy coming out tonight?" Libby asked her, the two of them were walking home together. Cindy paused before answering.

"I don't think so; we still have a lot to do."

"Oh." Libby muttered, and afterwards she did not say a word. If Cindy wanted to lie, she could. Nevertheless, Libby knew that she couldn't keep up the pretence forever.

Cindy and Jimmy finished modifying the shrink ray, and relaxed. It was 8:30, and they had at least another hour to design weapons.

"How was your day then?" Asked Jimmy as he poured them both some Purple Flurp.

"Horrible." His girlfriend replied. "I had to lie to Libby all day about Carl; I'm sure she suspects something."

"Don't worry Cind." Said Jimmy, and he smiled reassuringly at her.

"But what if she gets the truth out of me?" Jimmy took hold of her hand, and Cindy suddenly felt much stronger.

"You can do this." He said calmly. "I know you can, I believe in you. You can do this Cindy." He smiled and kissed her cheek, and then they returned to work. They had to save Carl. Before it was too late.

Libby and Sheen sat together in the Candy Bar; they were some of the last people inside.

"I think that Cindy is keeping something from me, has Jimmy acted strangely around you today?" Sheen shook his head.

"No, he acted completely normal." Libby sat and thought about it.

"Well they must both know about this secret, they share everything together. Do you think they trust us?" Sheen laughed.

"Of course they do! My entire friendship with Jimmy is based on trust, he trusts me; and in return I trust him. I would entrust him with my life, and he would do the same with me. If Jimmy did not trust me, then our friendship would never recover." Libby stared at her hyperactive boyfriend, before speaking again.

"How do you know all that?" Sheen grinned, and spoke like an old wise man.

"I have great wisdom." Libby smiled, and then became serious again.

"No, how do you really know all that?" Sheen sighed.

"I read it on the Internet."

"That's better." She looked at her watch, and stood up. "I'm going home Sheen, see you tomorrow." She exited the Candy Bar, and Sheen paid for their drinks. Then he left, unaware that the shadows were watching him…

Libby arrived home, and went upstairs to her room. She pulled out her diary, and began to write.

_Dear diary, _

_Today has been a strange day; I felt that Cindy is keeping a secret from me. And I don't like it, I am not a control freak; I do not have to know every aspect of my friends lives. Nevertheless, Cindy is my best friend, we share everything together; and it hurts me to see her lie blatantly to me. If Cindy is lying, then she must have good reason. But I cannot shake off the feeling that her and Jimmy don't trust me anymore. Then Sheen said something that made me think, what if they do trust me; but they don't trust Sheen. It would make sense, but I guess that I will find out. Something's wrong, and I'm going to find out what. In the meanwhile I'm going to listen to Good Charlotte." _Libby finished writing, and smiled. Switching on her CD player, she put on The Young And The Hopeless; and relaxed. Whatever imminent danger they were most likely in; it could wait.

Jimmy finished adjusting his inventions, and grinned. He would go tomorrow; soon Carl would be home. Goddard walked over to him.

"What is it boy?" He asked his mechanical dog. A scanner came up; it showed the time and space continuum. And there was a massive disturbance heading towards them.

"What!" Exclaimed the young genius. "That can't be right, according to these calculations four time travellers are all heading straight for here. That's impossible." That moment the resistance came flying out of the chronoarch, and hit a wall. Jimmy could do nothing but stare speechlessly, as his older counterpart dusted himself off and smiled.

"Well it worked! I did it!" He looked at his younger self and smiled again. "Well then how about a drink, travelling in time always does leave you thirsty." Jimmy nodded and brought Goddard over to him.

"Goddard pour four drinks, and then call Cindy. Tell her that I think there's something she might want to see…"

A.N. So what does everyone think, good, bad? This chapter is boring, and the next chapter reveals more about the plot! Now that's what we want! This story cleared up for us! But it will not be released until I have 6 reviews.Until my next update- badwolf1.


	8. Chapter 8

**_A.N._** Well I didn't get the number of reviews I wanted but I posted this anyway, but come on people! I want more reviews! Only you can help!

_**Chapter 8- The futures fate.**_

The young Cindy and Jimmy sat down, and stared at their older selves.

"So you're us from the future?" Cindy asked slowly.

"Yep." Replied Jimmy. "That sums us up, you from the future. And if you don't mind me and my wife here will just be on our way."

"Wife!" Exclaimed Jimmy and Cindy together.

"Well yeah, Cindy married me. What else did you expect?"

"Yeah." Said the older Sheen. "You two are meant to be together for all of time, feel depressed?"

"Of course not." Jimmy told him.

"Oh." Remarked Sheen miserably. "It was just me then, who felt depressed the day I committed myself to one woman." Libby turned to face him, and went red with anger.

"Excuse me? What do you mean depressed? You had better not mean that, or when we get home, you're doing all the housework "again". Sheen sighed.

"And I wonder why my marriage is boring." He turned and smiled at her, and Libby realised he was joking. They stood up and their friends followed suit. The four of then made to leave, but their younger versions stopped them.

"You're not going anywhere, why are you here? Why isn't Carl with you? What's going on?" The four sighed, but returned to their seats. The older Jimmy began to talk.

"This is our mission, the future is a barren desolate wasteland, the Earth is controlled by alien machines. Carl is dead."

"What? He can't be! We are going to save him tomorrow!"

"You know where he is?" Cindy asked them both.

"Yeah, he sent us this." The young Cindy said, and gave the postcard to her counterpart. The four examined in turn, and then Jimmy resumed talking.

"Well this is interesting, it seems like the future is being changed. Someone's playing a game with us."

"Tell us what happened to the future." Cindy said. The twenty five-year-old began…

"_Life was going great, me and Cindy were married; we were both successful; our friends were happy. Nothing was going wrong, and then it happened. A spaceship landed, and out came these machines. They attacked, slaughtered an entire city worth of people. The government began to attack, and called upon the rest of the world for help. However, it never came. It was too late. The machines had landed everywhere; the Earth was doomed…_

_Retroville was on panic alert when it happened, we were one of the last towns standing. Not for long though. The army's leader, The General, arrived on the scene; that was the end of Retroville. The General was ruthless, quick, and deadly. The perfect leader. He killed my parents._

Jimmy looked up, and said slowly.

"My parents are dead?" The older Jimmy nodded, and then continued.

"_Most of the city wiped out, but I put together a small force, the resistance is the only force against the armies of The General. Most of the world was dead, but the ones who survived followed my lead. Soon we had a world-wide resistance fighting The General, and it's been that way ever since._

"You sound like you know this General." Cindy said to the older Libby. She nodded.

"We do know him, we encountered him when he was human. His name was Wayne Mace; he was a genius."

"Then why did he become an evil monster then?" Jimmy asked, and Sheen began to talk.

"He was insane, he had built a nuclear reactor; when his machine went into overload it would vaporise the planet. So we stopped him." Sheen went quiet, and Jimmy picked up the story.

"Wayne tried to kill us, we had no choice but to kill him."

"Kill him?" Cindy said slowly. Her older self nodded.

"He had put the reactor into critical overload, but we could handle that. Jimmy had built a device that would absorb the energy; but it was too much for it. The energy needed a bigger body to keep it in; so we attached the device to Wayne. And his own reactor wiped him out, or at least that was what we thought." The younger Jimmy stared at the time travellers.

"But he survived…" He muttered. The four nodded. Sheen stared at the postcard.

"It's a trap." The older Jimmy nodded in agreement.

"That would make sense, eliminate the founders of the resistance. Nothing could stop them."

"Do you know whose running this hotel?" Libby asked.

"I'll look it up." Cindy said quickly, and she logged onto the Internet. After a few minutes, she cried out joyfully.

"I've found it! The scheme is run by Desmond Hunt."

"Hunt?" The resistance all said at once.

"Yeah why?" Jimmy asked, reading the information himself.

"Desmond Hunt is a servant of The General." Sheen explained. The others nodded.

"He betrayed the English resistance to the enemy, he is cold and calculating. If he is involved then this game just got took to a new level." Cindy told the youngsters. The young couple went to a corner of the lab, and discussed it for a few minutes.

"We're coming as well." Jimmy told the time travellers simply.

"No!" Shouted his older self. "If you are hurt, then evil has won! That's what this entire game is about, us. We will go, and you can stay." Young Cindy shook her head.

"This is our fight as much as yours, we go or you don't go." Sheen sighed, they were wasting time.

"Come on Jimmy, they can come. We have to go, Carl is in danger." Jimmy gave in.

"Come on then, whoever's playing this game is about to get a surprise. Cause now we're playing by our rules."

A.N. Well chapter 8 is over. AnI know they seem out of character but get used to it. This trilogy marks Jimmy and Cindy growing up, whilst saving all of time and space. Chapter 9 will be my longest chapter so far, and it will be full of action! Another point is that Sheen seems quite smart in this chapter, he will be a continuing voice of reason. If you review fast then Chapter 9 will be out fast! Maybe even today!Thanks to all my reviewers glad you like it! - badwolf1


	9. Chapter 9

_**Chapter 9- The trap is sprung.**_

The team set off in the hovercar, Jimmy had expanded the hovercar a few months ago, so they all fitted perfectly. They landed, and the group armed themselves. The young Jimmy and Cindy had the shrink ray; the hynpo ray; and two laser swords. The resistance were armed with laser rifles; and laser swords. They made their way to the hotel unseen, or so they thought.

Two hooded men walked up to James, and informed him that Neutron had arrived.

"Hmm, activate the turrets. Kill them all." The servants nodded, and James sat back. Neutron could not survive the trap; he did not stand a chance.

The older Jimmy led the way; he charged up his rifle and stopped.

"What is it?" His wife asked him.

"I heard something coming from a roof on the other side of the street." He whispered. Everybody turned, and saw two men firing at them.

"Get down!" Shouted Libby, and they all dived for cover. The turrets continued firing, and they were trapped. Jimmy moved to the side of the wall, which everyone was leaning against. He raised his weapon, and fired back. The shots missed, and the turrets continued. The wall would only stand for another few minutes, and then they would be sitting ducks. More hooded figures walked towards them, they were carrying rifles. The team was surrounded. The wall began to crumble; the older Jimmy waited for the moment and shouted.

"Dive!" Everyone dived onto the floor, and they avoided being killed. The resistance fired their rifles, and the hooded figures exploded. An android's face fell to their feet; but the turret was ready to tear them to pieces.

"We split up." Said Sheen. "Head for that helipad, good luck!" Everyone nodded, and began to run in different directions.

Young Jimmy and Cindy headed for a building, and without thinking threw open the door. The building was empty, and they sheltered inside for a while.

"Come on Cindy, we have to keep moving." His girlfriend nodded, and they continued on their journey.

They walked down the streets of the town, when they reached a large building.

"Should we go in?" Jimmy asked Cindy, she paused and nodded. They entered the building slowly, and were surprised to find that the room was empty. This room was large and circular; it had a few desks in it; and was littered with paper.

"Something's strange about this." Jimmy remarked slowly. Cindy nodded in agreement.

"Why are all the buildings empty?" She replied. Jimmy shrugged his shoulders.

"This is becoming stranger and stranger, but we have to keep moving. We could be caught by those androids any second." The two carried on, and reached a lab of some sorts.

"I wonder what all this equipment is used for?" Cindy asked.

"Probably designing those machines." Jimmy answered, and then noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Blueprints for a robot, he picked them up and examined them.

"It can't be." He muttered.

"What is it?" Cindy asked.

"These blueprints, they're the schematics for the Yolkian war machine that Eustace used against us."

"But that can't be right." Cindy insisted. "We threw that down the same cliff that Eustace went down."

"Hunt must have scavenged the parts." Jimmy muttered. And they carried on, as the shadows drew ever closer…

James sat back and smiled, so they were on the run were they? He would put an end to this once and for all. The machines approached him slowly.

"Alert the police." He instructed them. "Tell them to shoot to kill, and take no prisoners." The robots bowed, and exited the room. Now the fun would really start.

Sheen and Libby crept along the street, until they reached the entrance to the Town Square. Slowly they made their way into the town, and scanned their surroundings.

"The helipad is just across town." Libby told her husband. "We could be there in ten minutes, if we don't run into any trouble." Bullets began fly at the couple immediately, and the two instantly ducked down.

"You were saying." Remarked Sheen, and the two returned the fire.

"Who are they?" Shouted Libby, as she fired two rounds towards the shadowy creatures. Sheen squinted.

"They look like police!" He answered, before moving out of the way.

"Oh, that's all we need." Said Libby. "Everyone in the Bahamas trying to kill us, well the odds are stacked against us." Sheen stared at her.

"They are always stacked against us." He smiled, and she returned the grin. They fired again, but the police continued to approach them.

"Inside?" Sheen said, as they backed up against a door.

"Definitely." Libby replied, and they slowly opened the door. The police carried on to walk; they had not spotted the door yet. Suddenly Sheen swung open the door, and the freedom fighters dived in. They slammed the door, and quickly locked it.

"Barricade it." Shouted Sheen, and him and Libby pushed a bookcase against it.

"That should hold it." Libby said slowly, and she noticed something out of the window. A tank. A tank ready to fire.

"Get down!" She screamed, and they ducked underneath a table. The door was blasted open, and instantly bullets were let loose.

"Maybe you're a jinx." Sheen said, as they ran upstairs, gaining a scowl from his wife. The enemy entered the house, and Sheen and Libby had nowhere to hide.

"We can't get out!" Shrieked Libby, as the enemy drew ever closer.

"Oh yes we can." Her husband told her, and pointed towards the window.

"Oh you've got to be kidding." Libby muttered, and prepared to jump.

"Hope these windows are insured." Sheen said, and the two leapt through.

Most of the police were in the house, so the resistance was not greeted by a hailstorm of bullets. Instead, they were greeted by a tank.

"I've got an idea." Sheen told Libyy, prompting her to check the sky.

"What are you doing?" Sheen asked her.

"You had an idea, I'm checking the sky for flying pigs." Sheen made to give a comeback, but her thought better of it.

"Just follow my lead." He muttered, his wife nodded. Sheen ran towards the tank, and began to fire.

"Get on the top!" Sheen shouted, the police began to head back out. Libby began to climb the contraption, while Sheen distracted it. She opened the hatch, and fired at inside. Sheen climbed into it, and fired at the police force. They were wiped out.

"You just can't get tank proof police anymore." Sheen said smiling, prompting Libby to snort.

"I'll set this thing to self destruct." Libby told Sheen quickly, he nodded in agreement.

"Good thinking, we don't want the police to use this against us again." She nodded, and they ran out of the way. The explosion caused the entire square to set alight, and the freedom fighters walked away from the scene.

"Maybe more than just those windows needed to be insured." Sheen said calmly, as they headed towards the helipad.

The older Jimmy and Cindy were situated in the police station itself, and were in the middle of a gunfight. Jimmy killed two police officers, and then knocked another one unconscious. Cindy was using her laser sword to great affect, and the floor was becoming littered with severed heads. Soon enough the battle was over, and the resistance had triumphed.

"That wasn't much of a battle." Cindy said, and Jimmy nodded in agreement.

"Something must have them distracted." He said, and a massive explosion happened.

"That'll be our lot." Cindy said grinning, and they ran to the back of the police station.

"Look." Whispered Cindy, and she pointed towards two androids carrying metal boxes.

"The police have their own helipad." Jimmy whispered, and pointed towrds it. "If we get up there, then we might be able to get a vague idea of which way to go." Cindy nodded, and together they climbed the ladder. But the androids noticed them…

"So the resistance are here." Mr Hunt said, as James reported in.

"Yes, they are definitely here. And I am dealing with them; I know where they are heading. They will be dead before dawn. Captain C out." The hologram disappeared, and Mr Hunt smirked.

"You are mistaken my friend." He laughed. "It is not a question of whether the resistance will live to dawn, it is whether you will live that long!" He laughed maniacally…

"Captain C out." James ended his conversation with Hunt, and relaxed. His androids had just reported the location of the older Jimmy and Cindy; Sheen and Libby had blown up the Town Square; and the young Jimmy and Cindy were soon to dust. The trap was inescapable, and one thing was certain. At least one person would be dead by sunrise.

Young Jimmy and Cindy walked through another large empty building, and Cindy noticed a strange light on the wall.

"Hey look at this." Jimmy joined her, he touched it slowly. And the light turned bright red.

"Uh Cindy, I think your light is a bomb." Jimmy turned and saw that the lights were on every wall.

"And Cindy I think that we're trapped." Jimmy finished, and they began to sprint as fast as they could.

"This way!" Cindy screamed, and they managed to make it out just in time. The building blew up, and the inside was reduced to ash.

"Well now we know why those buildings were deserted." Jimmy said.

"I can't believe all that was a trap, there was no guarantee we would go in there." Cindy responded.

"The entire island must be full of traps." Jimmy said, and then he turned around.

"It's the helipad!" Cindy shouted happily, and the two ran towards it.

Sheen and Libby walked towards the helipad, and they noticed that the young Cindy and Jimmy were heading towards it as well.

"Hey! Over here!" Sheen shouted, and the young couple headed towards them.

"Hey, how are you?" Jimmy asked them. Sheen shrugged his shoulders.

"We encountered some police, and a tank." Jimmy nodded.

"Yeah we had an exploding building." The four paused and ran towards the helipad. The showdown was at hand…

James smashed the table angrily; he was more annoyed than ever. Neutron and the others were still alive, it was time to finish this. He called Hunt.

"What do you want C?" Hunt asked him irritatingly.

"I've come to report that Neutron is still alive." James told him.

"So what are you going to do about it?"

"I am going to kill them myself, they are heading for the helipad. Do not interfere." He ended the transmission, then received a call off the chief of police.

The future Cindy and Jimmy stood on top of the police station's helipad, and stared at the sight before them. The police chief was in a helicopter waiting for them, he fired at them. They both dodged left, and then dived to their right.

"What are we going to do?" Cindy shouted as a bullet whizzed past her ear.

"Follow my lead." Jimmy shouted back, he ran out and fired at the helicopter. But it was not nearly enough to stop it. He gestured to Cindy and together they ran to the edge of the helipad; and they jumped onto the machine.

"This will save us, or it will kill us." Jimmy told his wife plainly.

"I know, and I trust you." Cindy replied, and they attacked one last time.

James nodded at what the police chief told him.

"Yes kill them both."

"They're coming." The man shouted.

"Kill them now!" James screamed.

"They're coming in!" The shouting was replaced by the firing of guns, and then deadly silence. James stood at the mobile, not even breathing. Were they dead? Then the chiefs voice came through again.

"They are taken care of, what are my orders?" James sighed a sigh of relief.

"Excellent, meet me at the helipad. We will have entertained out guests long enough." James stood up, and headed towards the helipad. Two down…

The four remaining freedom fighters reached the helipad, and smiled.

"Where are Jimmy and Cindy?" Libby asked the others nervously.

"I believe they are in their graves." Came the cold emotionless reply. Everyone turned, and saw a tall, brown-eyed boy walking towards them. Jimmy stared; the boy could not have been older than fourteen. So what did he have to do with all this?

"Who are you?" He asked.

"My name is James, I am Captain C of the Generals army." The helipad became surrounded with soldiers, this was another trap.

"What have you done with Jimmy and Cindy?" Sheen questioned the boy, and he received a smirk.

"They're dead. My police chief killed them both." Sheen and Libby stood speechless, and Sheen sunk to the floor.

"They're gone." He whispered, and tears dropped from his eyes. Libby just stood there, not saying a word; or even moving a muscle. They were both paralysed with fear, grief, and hate for the man responsible. James and his soldiers all gathered at the far end of the helipad, leaving the resistance on the other side. James stared at them all, and smiled. If this was the affect when the future ones died, then if he killed Wheezer the present Jimmy and Cindy would be crushed. He raised his gun, and his men did the same.

"Goodbye freedom fighters." And the bullets raced through the air…


	10. Chapter 10

**_Chapter 10- Into the complex. _**

"Goodbye freedom fighters." And the bullets raced through the air…

_10 minutes earlier…_

Mr Hunt ended the transmission with James and sat back. The resistance was proving to be more of a nuisance than expected. It was time to betray the master forever; he was more powerful than that fool was. He would kill James, and unleash the virus. The world would know the terror of Desmond Hunt.

Mr Hunt stepped onto a disc, and it rose up into the air. He picked up a few items; it was time to end this little game.

The bullets flew towards the resistance, and suddenly a shield came in front of them.

"What!" James shouted out, and saw Mr Hunt flying over them all.

"What do you want?" Jimmy cried out.

"Yes! What are you up to Hunt! I'm dealing with this!"

"Manners James, it seems you and I have reached the end of our partnership. Which means you are going to die." Hunt drew out a massive rocket launcher, and fired it at the crowd of soldiers. Nobody even had to time to move, the massive explosion killed the soldiers.

Hunt smiled, his work was done. Now for the resistance.

"Where are Jimmy and Cindy? I wanted them to see me in my crowning glory." Hunt asked Sheen.

"They're dead, you killed them." He replied slowly.

"They're gone…" Libby muttered.

"You're responsible Hunt." Sheen said, and he began to stand up. "It's all your fault, Carl, Jimmy, Cindy… They're gone, and I will avenge them!" Sheen ran at Hunt, and he fired his rifle. Mr Hunt used his shield to block the blast, and he smiled.

"Now come on Sheen, you're stronger than that. On the other hand, maybe you're not that strong." Mr Hunt flew away, and looked at the hole where James had once been.

"What do you want Hunt?" Libby shouted.

"That's for me to know Libby, but I will tell you something. That hole is the only way into the hotel, if you don't jump down it then Wheezer dies." He flew away, and left the resistance to ponder his words.

"What do we do?" Sheen asked Jimmy, who shrugged his shoulders.

"Why are you asking me?" Jimmy said.

"You're the leader." Sheen told him.

"I am?" Jimmy questioned him, and Sheen nodded. Jimmy shook his head; this was a lot to handle.

"What are we going to do Jimmy?" Cindy asked him, and he pointed towards the hole.

"We rescue Carl, we kill Mr Hunt, and we end this." Without any more words, the four remaining freedom fighters leapt into the complex.

Jimmy dusted himself off, and looked around. They were in the middle of a corridor, and nobody was around. He began to lead the way, the four passed through dozens of identical corridors; but they encountered no one.

"Where is everyone?" Libby asked, and Sheen nodded.

"Yeah, I'd have thought Hunt would have ambushed by now." Jimmy shook his head.

"He has something else planned, lets not stick around long enough to find out what it is." The four continued on their journey.

They turned into a massive room, which was clearly a lounge of some sort. Everyone began to look around, when Cindy noticed a camera on the wall.

"Look!" She said, and the others turned to face to the camera. Suddenly it came off it's mount, and turned into an automatic turret. The freedom fighters dived for cover.

"What do we do?" Cindy asked, as the bullets relentlessly pounded every surface in the room.

"We take out the turret." Jimmy said strongly, Sheen made to get up. But Jimmy stopped him.

"What are you doing?" Sheen hissed.

"I'm taking out that turret." Jimmy replied, and he drew out his laser sword. The genius stood up, and threw it at the turret; it was sliced in half. And it fell to the floor useless.

"What do you think you're doing?" Sheen shouted angrily. "Do you want to die? You could have been wiped out! Did you want Jimmy and Cindy to die in vain? We to protect you, how can we do that if you pull stupid stunts like that?" Jimmy stood shocked; he had never seen Sheen so serious. But it didn't matter; he had to do what he had to do.

"You made me leader." Jimmy said quietly. "You told me to make the decisions, I made a decision. So don't question it!" He yelled at Sheen, who stood dumbstruck at the outburst. Cindy and Libby just stood and stared at the furious thirteen-year-old.

"We keep moving." Said Libby, daring to break the silence. The four continued, but the atmosphere was much more tense.

Mr Hunt smiled, everything was going to plan. His mobile began to ring, he picked it up quickly.

"Yes." Hunt snapped.

"Sorry to bother you sir, but we have an intruder."

"I know about the resistance you idiot! Who do you think allowed them access to the complex?" Hunt said impatiently.

"No sir, somebody else has entered the complex. And he seems to be locking certain doors, and leaving other doors wide open." The voice replied. Mr Hunt became intrigued.

"What do you mean, which doors is he locking?"

"He appears to be locking doors which lead to any soldiers, and he is leaving the doors which are unguarded." Mr Hunt grinned.

"I will deal with this fool myself sergeant, just kill Neutron." The phone was disconnected, but a few seconds later it rang again.

"Hello there B." The voice was cold, and emotionless.

"Good evening, what do you want?" The voice laughed.

"You seem to want kill the resistance, well I'm making your job easier." There was a long pause, and the voice spoke again. "Or then again, maybe I'm making your job more difficult. We will see soon enough. So long for now Captain B." The caller hung up, and left Mr Hunt with a sense of impending doom.

"Try this door." Cindy said, and Jimmy tried it.

"No it's locked, the only way to go is left." The four carried on through the deserted corridors, they were unable to enter any rooms. The corridors led on to one door, it read clearly.

"The manager." Sheen muttered, and he snarled.

"This is Hunt's office." Jimmy said, and everyone drew his or her weapon. Without any more waiting, the freedom fighters burst into the room.

"Good evening everyone." Mr Hunt said calmly, he was sitting back in an office chair. And had been evidently waiting for them.

"You are going to answer us some questions Hunt." Libby spat, and he smiled.

"Go on."

"Where is Carl?" Cindy asked him.

"Mr Wheezer is working in the main suites, I would give you directions but our doors are sealed shut." Jimmy stared at the despicable man.

"This door wasn't locked." He mentioned slowly.

"Yes well apparently you had to meet me again, and speaking of the room what do you think?" The resistance looked around, it was a large square room. It had a massive desk at the back, where Hunt was sitting. There was a balcony to the left, which could no doubt be used to gain access to the top floor. If you had enough energy for the climb.

"It's okay, but here's my question. Why did you kill that boy? He was with you!" Hunt laughed.

"Please I have betrayed The General, and all his pathetic cronies. I will conquer Earth myself, hence the reason I am in the past. I decided to create a virus, so that humanity would be destroyed. Then I would rule."

"But it didn't work, so you killed Carl instead." Jimmy said simply. Hunt nodded.

"Yeah, that sums it up. But that will change, I will be victorious!" Mr Hunt began to laugh.

"You won't live if we have anything to say about it." Sheen said, and Mr Hunt brought out his whip. He pressed a button on it, and it became a laser whip. Everyone stepped back.

"You were saying?" Hunt said, when a blast came from the balcony knocking the whip out of Hunt's hands.

Quick as a flash, Mr Hunt picked up his whip and raced over to the balcony. Everyone followed, and saw someone leap up to the top floor, and run away. Mr Hunt used his whip like a lasso, and pulled himself up to the top floor. Then he pursued their mystery saviour. Leaving everyone to ponder their next move.

A.N. I thought this chapter was okay, but it's what you think that counts! So review and tell me!- badwolf1


	11. Chapter 11

_**Chapter 11- Saving Carl.**_

A.N. Just to clear something up here, the team did go on to different floors in chapter 10, but they were not mentioned. This was because the doors were locked, and it seemed useless to say they went to different floors. This is just so you are not confused by any descriptions in this chapter. Enjoy it! - badwolf1

Jimmy and the others stared at the balcony above them, and wondered how to get up to it. It was a difficult climb, and there appeared to be no other way to reach the top floor.

"We have to do something, our way to Carl may be up there." Cindy said, and everybody nodded in agreement.

"There has to be another way, I doubt Hunt would lasso himself up there all the time." Jimmy said, and everyone went back into the office they had been in moments before.

"Look around." Libby said, and the team began to scour the office for something useful. After a few minutes, Sheen found a button underneath Mr Hunt's desk.

"I found something!" He shouted, and without hesitation pressed the button. Instantly a curtain drew back, and a lift appeared. The freedom fighters stepped inside.

The lift was large, and comfortable. It only had one button, and that was up. Clearly it had been designed simply for one purpose, to give Mr Hunt and his staff access to the top floor. And to keep other people out.

The lift shot upwards, and stopped at the top floor.

"What are a strange hotel." Sheen remarked.

"Yeah the layout is ridiculous, the rooms unrealistic, it's as if Hunt never wanted people to leave." Cindy replied.

"That was probably the point, once you come in you don't walk back out. The only way you exit is in a body bag." Libby added.

"Yeah well that isn't going to happen to us, we leave with Carl; and we all leave together." Jimmy said strongly, and the conversation ended.

The top floor was different to the other floors the team had seen, it was more advanced and computers were in every room. The other floors had been regular, and boring. This was the exact opposite. The team stepped into one room, and found it was destroyed, bullets were everywhere and there were laser marks on the walls.

"What happened here?" Cindy asked quietly.

"I don't know, but we don't have time to find out." Jimmy answered, and they kept on going.

After ten minutes the freedom fighters reached a door labelled "Security." Slowly they opened the door, and found it full of monitors and security footage.

"Over here!" Libby shouted, and everyone came over to see what she wanted.

"Door override." Sheen read, and laughed triumphantly. "Great now we can open the doors and save Carl!" He shouted joyfully.

"That is what you would like to think." A cold evil voice said, and the group turned around slowly.

A tall muscled man was standing in the doorway holding an automatic Uzi gun in his hands, and he was smiling cruelly.

"I don't know how you found this place, but you're not leaving." The gun burst into life, and once again, a shield saved the resistance. The security room had it's own defence system, including a shield. This now sprung into life around Jimmy and the others, protecting them from certain death. Then the other security function occurred, a massive scythe swung through the doorway slicing the man in half. It swung back again, and disappeared.

"Talk about cutting edge technology." Jimmy said, and examined their assailant.

"He was a sergeant." Cindy muttered as she stared at the body.

"Hunt probably sent him to finish us." Jimmy whispered, he had witnessed death before; but still to see a man butchered in front of him…

"Jimmy an emails come up." Libby told him, he nodded and tore his eyes away from the mess. He opened the email; it contained a message for them.

"_That's twice I've saved you Neutron, you need to watch yourself. Hunt is on level 3 now, and Carl is on level 1. Once you open those doors the soldiers will pour out, but there is another way on this floor. Look for the vault, that could help you. In more ways than one._

_See you soon. Anonymous._"

"Someone saved us." Jimmy said.

"What?" Cindy asked him.

"Somebody activated that system, or we would be dead now." He replied, and he focused himself.

The freedom fighters carried on, they had pressed the button; and the soldiers were definitely on their way. The vault was in a small dark room, a corridor from the security room. The key was on top, without thinking Jimmy opened up the safe. Inside was a button which he then pressed, similar to Hunt's office an elevator appeared. Jimmy noticed something else inside the safe, he picked it up and his eyes widened in shock. He pocketed the item, and the journey continued.

The lift stopped at level 1, and the resistance crept out. Jimmy was horrified at what he saw, hundreds of people were being forced to work. They were carrying heavy metal items; people were hot and dehydrated; most of them were collapsing. It was slavery, plain and simple. Jimmy's eyes scanned the large circular room for his friend and he found him

"Carl!" He ran over to him, and helped him.

"Come on Carl, we need to escape. While the soldiers are looking for us." Cindy said, the boy nodded. It was too much of an effort to speak yet.

The group set off, and reached the main hall; when they were stopped.

"Where do you think you're going?" Mr Hunt asked them, and he drew out his whip. The people were watching them, Jimmy could only think of one thing.

"Run riot!" He screamed at the people, who stayed still for a second. And then they ran everywhere trying to escape, in all the confusion the group slipped away. But not for long.

"Oh no you don't!" Mr Hunt shouted, and he followed them, Sheen skidded to a halt, and turned.

"Go!" He shouted to Jimmy.

"What are you doing?" Came the reply.

"I'll hold Hunt off, get to safety!"

"You can't do it alone!"

"Trust me!" Sheen shouted, the words had a great affect on Jimmy who nodded and ran with the others.

"It's game time." He muttered, and charged heroically into battle…

A.N. Review, Review, Review! Until next time- badwolf1.


	12. Chapter 12

_**Chapter 12- The Captain arrives.**_

Captain D arrived at the town, and looked around. Hunt had left the place relatively unguarded. The resistance would be on their way soon, and he would have to make sure that things went according to his plan. Soon Mr Hunt would be dead, the future resistance would be dead, and he could deal with Jimmy and Cindy in his own time.

He headed towards the hotel, and pulled out a grapple gun. He fired it onto the helipad, and brought himself up. He scanned the area, the hotel was the most important place; he had to ensure that the resistance made it there alive.

Captain D stood and watched the resistance arrive; soon they were in the middle of a gunfight. No doubt James was behind it, he looked up the fools were running. He ran across the roofs, and saw the older Jimmy and Cindy enter the police station. He followed them at a safe distance, and watched them kill the police. They are impressive fighters, he thought; and watched them make their way to the roof.

Captain D watched as Cindy and Jimmy fought the helicopter. They stood a good chance, it was time. Jimmy and Cindy leapt onto the helicopter, and they fired at the man. The gunfight continued, as Captain D drew out a briefcase. He quickly assembled the sniper rifle inside the case, and aimed it at the resistance and fired. Jimmy and Cindy collapsed and fell of the helicopter, they were dead. D watched the pilot report in; no doubt he would take the glory for himself. He ran back to the helipad, and noticed a higher level to the hotel. He pulled himself up, and watched the action unfold.

Mr Hunt appeared and killed James, Captain D's face turned angry. So Hunt had finally betrayed them, well he now he would pay. He went into the room on the top floor, and entered the security room. Captain D quickly locked the soldiers inside their rooms, leaving the path open for the resistance. Now they would kill Mr Hunt, and save him a job.

He grabbed his briefcase and opened up a second level; this contained a laptop. He hooked it up to the main computer, and opened up a wireless connection. He began to set up a network between their computers, and broke into the main system.

Before he finished the network Captain D picked up his mobile, it was time to let Hunt know who he was dealing with.

""Hello there B." His voice was cold, and emotionless.

"Good evening, what do you want?" The captain laughed.

"You seem to want kill the resistance, well I'm making your job easier." There was a long pause, and he spoke again. "Or then again, maybe I'm making your job more difficult. We will see soon enough. So long for now Captain B." Captain D hung up, and continued with his work.

Captain D set up several password protections, and soon finished making the network. He disconnected the computer and went to another room, which contained a vault. He found a key, and opened it. He placed what he needed inside, and shut it. He left the key to one side, and activated his laptop. He accessed the network, and saw that the resistance had made it to Hunt's office. He made his way to the balcony below Mr Hunt's room, dropped down. Mr Hunt had cornered the resistance, which meant Captain D had no choice. He pulled out his laser rifle, and blasted the weapon out of Hunt's hands. He pulled himself up, and ran away.

Hunt followed him, and they went into a computer room. Battle commenced, Hunt used to his laser whip to great effect; destroying everything. But D was to fast for him, and he dodged one attack and attacked him. Mr Hunt staggered backwards, and D fired his gun. The bullets headed for Hunt, but he spun his whip. And the laser slashed them in half. The battle continued, and the captain fled. He leapt upwards onto the roof rafters, and watched as Hunt looked for him; and then proceeded to leave the floor via the lift. The captain dropped back down, and heard the resistance from the room where he had just been.

"_What happened here?"_ Came Cindy's voice, the captain ran into the vault room; and used the elevator to go down to the fourth floor. He sat in an unguarded room, and activated his laptop. He watched Jimmy in the security room, and saw the sergeant coming. He logged onto the security system, and activated the shields, and then the scythe. The sergeant was dead, and the resistance were safe, Captain D quickly sent an email to Neutron and quit the system. His hologram projector activated, and the master appeared.

"Good evening D."

"My lord."

"How goes the mission?"

"Excellent, the resistance live."

"Tell me how this is excellent."

"They will kill Hunt, and stop his plans. I will deal with Neutron myself; we both know what destiny has planned for him. We must allow him to complete the task, and then he will die."

"You seek to end Neutron?"

"My lord this is not personal."

"But you are trying to make it personal."

"I assure you that I will do my mission to the best of my ability, Hunt will die, the resistance will be shaken, and Neutron will be crushed."

"Good, you are my most loyal captain D. We have known each other for a long time, you are my greatest servant. Succeed in your task, and nothing will stop us." The hologram vanished, and Captain D pocketed it. He went to the lift, and pressed for floor one. It was time for the endgame.


	13. Chapter 13

_**Chapter 13- Destruction.**_

Sheen rushed at Mr Hunt; he had to buy time for Jimmy, Cindy, and Carl. It was what his Jimmy would have done, and if he died half the man he had been, then Sheen Estevez would die happy. Hunt drew his laser whip, and attacked him. Sheen fired, and the lasers cancelled each other out. The pair continued the dance of battle, neither gaining a distinct advantage. They were equal, but all dances come to an end. This one would also end, but only one would survive the dance.

Libby led the others toward the hovercar, now that Sheen was busy it was up to her. She just hoped that the responsibility didn't get to her. She could not fail Jimmy and Cindy. She could see the hovercar, but machines where gaining on them. Libby turned around; it was time to fight.

"Jimmy get them out of here." She told the genius, and drew her laser gun.

"But-"

"That is an order!" She screamed, and Jimmy ran as fast he could. The machines attacked, and Libby charged.

Sheen continued his battle with Mr Hunt, and he suddenly knocked Hunt's whip out of his hands. Sheen pointed the laser sword at him, and Mr Hunt began to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Sheen questioned him, and Mr Hunt burst into more laughter.

"Oh I think you know."

"No, please enlighten me."

"The great hero, always victorious, how cliché. Well I will awaken you from your world of clichés." Mr Hunt sprung at Sheen, and knocked him instantly to the floor. He grabbed his whip and brought it crashing down. Sheen dodged the attack, and leapt back to his feet. Sheen grabbed his sword, and prepared to continue the deadly duel.

Libby blasted the machines down, but they carried on coming. She reloaded and sighed, destruction was everywhere. And nothing could stop it.

Jimmy ran to the hovercar, and looked at Cindy.

"You can't leave them." His girlfriend told him, Jimmy cast his gaze downwards.

"I know, but we have to get out of here."

"You're abandoning them?" Cindy said unbelievingly.

"We have to go Cindy, Hunt is after us; and if he gets us then the future won't stand a chance." She shook her head.

"He will come after us; wherever we are. It is time to end this; now." Jimmy looked at Carl, and nodded.

"Carl wait with the hovercar, if anything happens press the autopilot; it will take you home." Carl nodded, and sat in the hovercar. Jimmy and Cindy headed back towards the battlefield, the true endgame had commenced.

Sheen fought Mr Hunt, and began to breath heavily. He was tiring, but Hunt seemed to have an infinite supply of energy. Hunt began to spin his whip around; he suddenly turned off the laser and Sheen was surprised. Mr Hunt wrapped his whip around Sheen's body, and Hunt grinned triumphantly.

"You got distracted." Hunt said simply.

"Then finish it." Sheen muttered, and Hunt reactivated the laser. Sheen collapsed dead, but as he did so his hand slipped on his blaster. The laser fired straight at the whip's handle destroying it. Hunt cursed; his precious whip was gone. He had been too careless with it, if he had guarded it properly, then he would still have had it. Nevertheless, Sheen was dead, and that was what truly mattered. He picked up Sheen's laser sword, he had unfinished business to attend to.

Libby finished destroying the machines, and sighed in relief. You looked and saw Jimmy and Cindy running towards her, her heart filled with elation; they were safe. She smiled, and then…

Jimmy and Cindy ran towards where Libby had been, they had to help their friend. The two freedom fighters saw Libby, and began to smile. Libby returned the smile, she was safe. But then Hunt came into view, before Jimmy could shout out a warning, a gleaming laser sword flew through the air; straight into Libby's back. Her beautiful brown eyes opened wide in shock, and she fell to the floor. Jimmy could do nothing but stare at the scene; he was paralysed with fear, and surprise. Suddenly he raced towards Libby, and he came to her wounded body.

"Libby." Jimmy said simply, and she smiled. There was no need for words between them, they both knew this was how it would end. Jimmy took her hand in his own; and there and then Libby Estevez died.

Mr Hunt watched the scene emotionlessly; he had done his job. The girl was dead, now for the young Jimmy and Cindy; and then his conquest of Earth would be complete.

Captain D smiled; Jimmy was shaken by the death of his friend. Unbelievably Hunt had just made his job much easier, now it was time to end this little game. However, he would not be the one to end it.

Jimmy and Cindy looked up, and saw Mr Hunt walking towards them. He grinned insanely, and his meaning was as clear as mineral water. He meant to end the resistance permanently.

"You monster." Cindy muttered, and she charged straight at the despicable man. Hunt simply moved to one side, and delivered a swift punch to Cindy's gut; she crumpled to the floor. Jimmy stared at Hunt, and did the only thing he could think of. He ran, Jimmy Neutron boy genius; ran for his life.

Jimmy carried on running until he was at least a mile from where Hunt had killed Libby, he began to cry. He had just abandoned Cindy to her fate, he should have protected her; he should have gave his life for her; instead he had been a coward.

"Running away Neutron?" A voice asked him, Jimmy swivelled around; and came face to face with a teenager dressed in black clothing; wearing a mask with eye and mouth slits.

"Who are you?" Jimmy asked him carefully, as he began to walk in circles around the sinister looking figure.

"I'm Captain D of The General's army, and I have been instructed to wipe out Desmond Hunt. I am also the one who saved your life." The Captain began to walk in circles as well, neither taking their eyes off the other for a single moment.

"Why did you save me? And what do you want now?" Jimmy questioned him.

"I saved you for my own reason, which I have no intention of revealing. And I am here to tell you Cindy is alive, and you can still save her." Jimmy stopped at the mention of Cindy's name.

"What do you know about Cindy?" He inquired.

"I know that Hunt is keeping her alive, so that he can bargain with you for her safety. I know that you have one chance to save her, and I know that Hunt will kill her if you don't return to him in one hour." D answered, and although he was wearing a mask, Jimmy could tell the Captain was smirking.

"Where is Hunt?"

"Hunt is in the remains of his hotel, he will be waiting for you Neutron. Watch your step." Captain D began to run, and he disappeared from Jimmy's sight. Leaving the young genius to make the journey to the final battle alone.

Hunt snarled and looked again at Cindy, who was tied up in a chair. Hunt checked his watch, thirty minutes before the girl died. Thirty minutes for Neutron to prove that Cindy Vortex was his only weakness.

The hotel was completely torn apart, machines lay everywhere; amongst them lay the bodies of humans. Most of the mobs were in the town centre; already police forces were on their way. Hunt had been ruined; his virus destroyed; but if he killed Neutron, he could still conquer Earth.

Jimmy approached Hunt slowly, the evil man had seen him, he took a deep breath and walked towards Hunt.

"I was starting to wonder when you would arrive Jimmy." Mr Hunt said in a mocking voice, and he stepped towards the genius.

"Let Cindy go." Jimmy muttered, his voice was quiet; but threatening.

"Or what, I have the girl, I am in control. And you will do as I say, that's if you want Cindy to live."

"Don't listen Jimmy!" Cindy screamed from her chair, and Hunt turned towards her angrily.

"Shut up! Or I will kill you now!" Hunt pointed his laser sword at Cindy, causing Jimmy to stand between the two of them.

"Don't you dare threaten her." Jimmy whispered angrily, and he reached into his pocket. Then all of a sudden Jimmy brought a laser sword out of his pocket, and he attacked Mr Hunt. The two began to duel on the steps, their swords clashing together. Jimmy was at a disadvantage because of his height, but his younger age caused him to move faster. Jimmy slashed out at Hunt's legs, and cut them. Hunt stumbled on the steps, and Jimmy kicked him down them. The young teenager walked down the steps slowly, his laser sword pointing at the despicable middle aged man.

"Finish then Neutron, you have beaten me. So end my existence." Hunt said simply, and Jimmy continued to advance on him. Jimmy reached Hunt, and prepared to stab him; when he dropped the sword.

"I can't do it, I can't kill you here now like this." Hunt took his chance, and sprung back into action. He picked up the sword triumphantly, and Jimmy put his hands in his pockets. Hunt walked towards Cindy, and grinned pulling out his laser sword.

"Don't do it Hunt." Jimmy pleaded, but the madman wouldn't listen.

"What are you going to do Jimmy kill me?" Jimmy began to grow furious.

"I'm warning you Hunt, don't touch her." Hunt drew back his sword, and sliced Cindy's legs. Cindy emitted a scream of pain, and Jimmy pulled out a blaster and fired it straight into Hunt's heart!

"I guess you did kill me." Hunt attempted to joke as he stood there by Cindy, and he fell to the floor. Desmond Hunt, traitor; creator of a virus that would have wiped out humanity; killer of Sheen and Libby Estevez; and Captain B of The General's army died. Jimmy stood shaking at what he had done, as destruction reigned the blood drenched night…

A.N. That's great isn't it? Hunt is gone, well review! The next chapter is a turning point in Jimmy's life!- badwolf1.


	14. Chapter 14

_**Chapter 14- Homecoming.**_

"What have you done now Neutron?" Jimmy turned, and saw Captain D leaning against a pillar.

"I didn't do anything, right Cindy?" Cindy simply shook her head, as Jimmy untied her.

"I didn't see anything Jimmy, it was all just a blur." Jimmy turned, and grinned defiantly at Captain D.

"I saw you kill Hunt Jimmy, and you can't deny it."

"I did what had to be done to protect Cindy." Jimmy replied, and the Captain laughed.

"Oh yes, and who will threaten Cindy next? Me? Your family? Your friends? That is just your excuse Jimmy, you killed Hunt to protect Cindy; and you will continue to kill, all to protect Cindy." Captain D stared straight at the boy genius.

"Jimmy would never do that, he's kind-hearted and good, he isn't like you." Cindy shouted angrily.

"If that's what I will become then I will never kill again." Jimmy said, and Cindy nodded.

"It's your future." The Captain said, and then thought about it again. "Or then again no it isn't. The dark times are coming, and you must fight. Kill or be killed, that is your choice. If you don't choose to fight, then my master will conquer this planet. And you and Cindy will be distant memories, as you all rot in a desolate wasteland. Or you could fight, you might destroy the dark forces, and light shall embrace the Earth. Of course the third option is that you could fight, be victorious; and then take my masters place as the great tyrant of the planet. You will be consumed by hatred, transformed into a lord of shadows. Pure evil, showing no mercy to those who oppose you; you would wipe out the human race. This is far more likely than light being victorious, do what you want. As I said, it's your choice. Either make way for the lord of shadows, or become the lord of shadows." Captain D disappeared again, leaving Jimmy and Cindy to ponder what he had told them.

"It can't be true Jimmy." Cindy told him, as they walked towards the hovercar.

"Why can't it? Maybe he was right." Jimmy told her miserably.

"You're not evil Jimmy, you won't become evil. You're the most decent person I know, and I love you and you love me. How can you be evil if you have a love so pure?" Cindy asked him, but she still couldn't raise a smile from her boyfriend. They walked back to the hovercar, and found a frantic Carl waiting for them.

"Thank god you're okay!" He exclaimed, and he began talking to them. Cindy listened and replied enthusiastically, but Jimmy thought about what had happened in the hotel. He had killed Hunt; he had caused a riot; and he had been warned of his shadowy future.

"What's the matter Jimmy?" Carl asked him.

"Just thinking about things Carl, like the people who didn't make it." Carl's face instantly fell.

"Yeah." He muttered, thinking about his Mum and Dad; both who had perished in Hunt's sick plan. The rest of the journey was silent, everyone was to busy wrapped up in their thoughts to speak.

Jimmy had activated two robots to fill in for him and Cindy well they were away, and they appeared to have worked. He took Carl to the lab, and Cindy went home.

"Let's get you cleaned up Carl." Jimmy said, and he ordered a medic bot to fix Carl's injuries, well he made him a snack.

"What's going to happen now Jimmy?" Carl asked him nervously.

"I don't know Carl." Jimmy answered truthfully, and Carl went back to eating his snack, as his wounds were slowly healed.

In the future, The General prepared to leave for his journey; he was ready to go to the past. He had received word that Hunt was dead, and he was glad. It was time to show Neutron the real meaning of fear…

Sheen and Libby sat in the restored Retroville Park, and discussed things.

"I still think that Cindy and Jimmy are lying about something." Libby told her boyfriend, as they sat back on the park bench; throwing bread to the ducks.

"That's it!" Sheen said strongly, surprising Libby as he stood up quickly.

"What's the matter Sheen?" Libby asked him calmly.

"Whatever Jimmy and Cindy are keeping from us is bothering you, and I won't let that happen. We're going to the lab, to settle this once and for all." Sheen began to walk towards Jimmy's house, and Libby followed him.

Cindy walked into the lab, and smiled at Carl; who looked much better.

"How you're feeling Carl?" She asked him kindly.

"I'm doing better, but I miss my parents." He replied, a hint of remorse becoming evident in his voice; as he talked about his mum and dad.

"You'll get over it Carl." Jimmy told his friend, joining in the conversation.

"I know, but it will take time. But at least Hunt is dead and gone forever; he won't ever trouble us again." Carl said, and he sat back in his chair.

"There's still Captain D, and The General." Cindy reminded everybody, leaving them to think about the difficult times that lay ahead for all of them.

Sheen stormed into the lab, with Libby behind him. Jimmy had left the door unlocked, so there was no need to knock. He paused, and then walked into the main area; and was astonished to find Carl sitting down talking to his friends.

"What is Carl doing here?" Sheen shouted, upset that he had not been notified.

"Sheen it's not how it looks-"

"Sure it isn't, can't you trust us with this sort of information?" The young boy roared, stopping Jimmy before he could even begin explaining.

"Why didn't you tell me Cindy?" Libby asked her, and Cindy turned her head in shame. Carl just stared at the two couples, not fully understanding the situation.

"So you don't trust me!" Sheen shouted angrily, a million things racing through his mind.

"We couldn't!" Jimmy shouted back, and instantly a deadly silence filled the room. Sheen stared defiantly at Jimmy, while Cindy and Libby just looked at each other. Carl just sat blanked faced the entire time.

"Well that's that then." Sheen muttered, and turned away.

"We couldn't trust you keep the information a secret Sheen." Cindy told him, and Libby finally understood everything.

"It makes sense Sheen, you do have a reputation for spilling secrets." Libby told him softly, but this proved to provoke the boy more.

"Now you don't trust me either! Fine then we're through! It's over, go find another boyfriend, I will date someone who trusts me!" Sheen screamed, and he stormed out. Libby just stared, and then left, leaving the others to wonder about what they had just seen.

The next day Cindy walked to school ,and caught up to Libby in the playground.

"Hey Libs, how you're doing?" Cindy asked sympathetically.

"Fine, in fact allow me to introduce my new boyfriend." Libby replied, and she waved over a young boy. "Cindy meet my new boyfriend, Nick Dean."

Cindy just stared, it was going to be an interesting day.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15- The General arrives. 

In a deserted part of Retroville a time portal opened, from this portal stepped The General. The metal monster surveyed his surroundings, and once he determined that no civilians were in the area, he stepped out into the light of the moon. Captain D was sat on a dumpster waiting for him, idly throwing a silver knife up and down in the air.

"Is everything prepared?" The General asked him slowly. The Captain did not reply, but simply threw the knife upwards, caught it, and then spun it towards The General. The machine caught it, and threw it back.

"Everything is set for your arrival." D told the cruel creature, as he caught the knife and pocketed it.

"Good, how's Neutron?" The General's voice suddenly became full of hatred and evil as he spoke Jimmy's name.

"He's not doing well, his personal life is in ruins." The Captain laughed.

"You could have killed him in the Bahamas." The General remarked.

"I played my part, and the Master was pleased with the end result, that is what counts."

"I don't trust you." The General snarled.

"And why not? I am the perfect soldier: loyal, evil, and brutal." D replied, not even sparing the machine a glance.

"Perhaps, but I don't know who you are; or what your mission is. For all I know you could have your own agenda in this little game."

"You don't need to know who I am, my mission is to confuse Neutron; which I managed exceptionally. I don't have an agenda, other than to serve my

master. And as for "this little game," I think that we're nearing the real battle soon. The little game is over, Hunt was small; now it's time for the true reason behind everything." The General walked away; he would take care of Neutron soon enough.

Jimmy sat back in his lab chair, and sighed. It had been a long day, and Sheen not talking to him had not made it any easier. He cast his mind back to the day…

_Jimmy sat down for class, and Cindy sat next to him. To his immediate surprise Nick sat next to Libby, and held her hand. _

"_What's going on with Libby and Nick?" Jimmy asked Cindy quietly._

"_They're going out, apparently Libby asked him this morning. Probably to get back at Sheen, personally I can't see it lasting; there's something about Nick that I don't trust." She told him, and Jimmy nodded in agreement. Something was wrong, but he could not figure out what. _

_The day dragged on, and Jimmy couldn't wait for it to end. Sheen did not even look at any of his former friends, but instead focused on an item in his backpack. Jimmy did attempt conversation, but Sheen simply walked the other way. It was then that Jimmy noticed something in Sheen's backpack, something peculiar. Jimmy shook his head, and turned away. The rest of the day passed with incident, but Jimmy knew that something was going to happen soon. Something big._

Jimmy began to think about the item, for some reason it bothered him. He could not help but feel that Sheen was involved in the situation, though why he would be involved he could not say. Jimmy attempted to put the problem out of his head, but it continued to bug him. He eventually decided to pull up footage from the school cameras, just to see what was going on.

Jimmy logged on to the school's security system, and pulled up camera footage from his class. He eventually found what he was looking for a shot of Sheen's bag. He smiled to himself, it was lucky that the school had so many cameras, and that they took such useless footage. Jimmy zoomed in on the picture, and stared at the item. He quickly minimised the screen and brought up another. He quickly found what he needed, and restored the previous screen. He compared the two pictures, and gazed unbelievingly at what his screen was telling him. The item was a time tracker, a very powerful piece of machinery. It could pick up messages from any era of time, project holograms of people in different times, and it alerted you when someone was travelling through time. Jimmy had designed a prototype, but nothing as powerful. What was Sheen doing with such a powerful piece of machinery? It couldn't be coincidence. Sheen was involved, or someone had set him up.

Jimmy brought up his own time travel records on the computer, it would tell him if anyone had arrived in the last 24 hours. The machine scanned, but eventually told Jimmy what he needed to know. One thing had arrived via a time portal in the last 24 hours, it had been from a portable power source; and the thing had been part human, part machine. The General. Jimmy stared at the screens; there was no other explanation. Sheen was assisting The General; it was most likely his former friend was the elusive Captain D. Jimmy could not believe it, but he couldn't avoid the facts; Sheen was a traitor.

The next day Jimmy sat in class, and carried on looking at Sheen; who in turn was gazing out of the window. Almost as if he was waiting for something, or someone. The bad feeling that Jimmy had was increasing in size; something was going to happen. The next second there was a massive explosion, and gunfire was heard; along with screaming. Jimmy turned and saw a hideous, half-human, half-metal hybrid walk through the wall, two automatic weapons in it's hands. Yeah, thought Jimmy staring at the mutated menace, that was definitely something.

A.N. A slightly shorter chapter, but I liked it. I enjoyed writing the conversation between Captain D, and The General. I hoped you enjoyed reading it! Our next chapter will have Jimmy and Cindy's first encounter with The General. And the chapter after that will reveal the identity of the master! So review, and it will come! - badwolf1.


	16. Chapter 16

_**Chapter 16- Declaration of war.**_

Jimmy stared at The General, and had an overwhelming sense of fear crash through his body. This thing meant business, and unless Jimmy fought back it would destroy everything; but Captain D's sinister prediction of the future restrained the young genius. If he did fight, then he could become the very monster he was trying to wipe out. He had to make a decision, but he couldn't think. His time was up.

The General looked around, students were cowering under their desks in fear, and Neutron just sat there gazing at him. He raised his weapon, and fired into the air.

"Silence!" He shouted, and instantly all the sobbing, and screaming stopped. The room became deadly silent, just the type The General liked. He could have killed Neutron on the spot, but that wouldn't have been good enough. The class teacher, Miss Fowl, stood up in protest; and The General pumped her full of lead. The old woman dropped down killed instantly. The class suddenly stayed still, they were going to die.

Jimmy paused, and turned over the information in his mind, Miss Fowl was dead, The General was holding them hostage; and there appeared to be no assistance on the way. He looked around, and saw children petrified with terror; he saw Nick and Libby sitting together holding hands; he saw Cindy looking straight at him. She was expecting him to save the day, to come up with an invention; he even saw Sheen just staring out of the window; not interested in the events that he had created. There and then Jimmy made his decision, he was going to fight. Slowly he stood up, hands in his pockets; and then he unleashed his confusion ray. The General began to stagger around; he walked through a wall in his confusion.

"Run!" Jimmy shouted, and everyone began to run around. Cindy stayed beside Jimmy, and to the genius's surprise Nick stayed with him as well.

"Jimmy I found these, they fell out of Sheen's backpack." Nick handed Jimmy a laser sword; and one commander laser pistol. Jimmy drew out another laser sword from his pocket, and he handed Cindy the pistol.

"What would Sheen be doing with these?" Cindy asked him. Jimmy shook his head.

"I'm not sure, but we will find out." Nick grabbed the other laser sword, and switched it on.

"I used to go fencing." Nick commented, as he formed an attacking position.

"Let's go." Cindy said, and the three classmates headed towards the dazed General.

"How long does your invention last?" Cindy asked Jimmy.

"It should wear off any moment." The boy replied, and Nick went to Jimmy's side; Cindy went slightly behind her boyfriend.

The General felt in control again, slowly he prepared himself for an all out assault. He pulled out his gun, and leapt onto the rafters of the roof, let the battle commence.

Jimmy and the others walked into the room slowly, Cindy held up her blaster; she felt as if The General was near. Jimmy and Nick braced themselves, whenever their enemy struck it would fast; and ruthless.

The General waited for Neutron to go slightly ahead of him, and then he dropped. The three heroes turned, but they were not quick enough. The General slammed into Nick, and turned to face Cindy. Jimmy stood in his way, but he was to small to stand a chance. The General punched him, and picked him up by the neck. Jimmy was tossed across the empty classroom, and hit the wall with a sickening thud. Cindy fired her weapon, but to no avail. The shots bounced off the chaotic machine, as he drew ever closer to the teenage girl. The General balanced himself on one foot, and swung his other foot around, but to his surprise Nick dived in the way. The teenage boy went flying at the force of the kick. Cindy was alone.

"Time to die Neutron." The General told her, a hint of amusement in his voice.

"I'm not a Neutron; not yet. But I'll live to be one!" Cindy screamed, and she fired at the devastating monster; and then she began to sprint as fast as possible. The General sighed, and began to chase her.

Jimmy woke up, and was astounded to find Nick unconscious next to him, the genius shook his head; and then followed The General's trail of senseless destruction.

Cindy sprinted faster than she had ever done before, until she reached Retroville town centre. The crowds were amazed at what they saw, and quickly assumed it just another Monday morning. The General dropped his gun; he would end this with his own metal hands.

Jimmy ran towards the centre of town, and saw The General on top of a roof; facing Cindy whom was backing away slowly. He ran towards the elevator, and pressed the button to the top of the building.

Cindy stood in fear as The General approached; her heart was pounding as the monster came closer. Then all of a sudden Jimmy came out of nowhere, and threw his laser sword at The General.

"Why won't you just die Neutron?" The General shouted, and he raced towards the genius. Jimmy stared as he was pounded by The General, and suddenly Goddard appeared; and Jimmy had a chance.

The General snarled, and attempted to destroy the dog, but it outwitted him and he was forced to his knees. Jimmy picked up his sword, and Cindy stood beside him.

"Goodbye." Jimmy said, and he thrust his sword through The General's neck.

Jimmy and Cindy gazed at the wreck on the floor, The General had simply shut down. A smile crossed Cindy's face, and she grabbed Jimmy's hands.

"It's over." She said happily, and then The General began to rise upwards.

"Not just yet." He told the couple, and he walked to the edge of the roof.

"That's impossible." Jimmy stammered slowly, his eyes filled with fear. "We just kill you, you should be dead." The genius continued in an unbelieving voice. The General laughed.

"I'm not fully human, you could destroy my human side. But the machine part of me will stay running, and unless you fully wipe out my human and machine life supports, then I can regenerate and live on." The deadly machine told the scared children.

"What do you want?" Cindy asked him.

"Just your dead bodies." The General replied coldly.

"Well to bad, we're not going down without a fight." Jimmy told him firmly, as he stepped nearer to the robot, drawing confidence from deep within himself.

"Then I guess that you and your planet can consider this war." The General told Jimmy, and the killer android leapt off the roof; and then proceeded to run through the streets.

Jimmy and Cindy stared, wondering what consequences their actions may have had for the entire human race… Let the war begin.


	17. Chapter 17

_**Chapter 17- The beginning.**_

Jimmy and the others sat in the lab; Carl had fully healed; and was ready for another adventure.

"What do we do next?" Libby asked Jimmy nervously, she was taking the news about Sheen especially hard.

"I'm not to sure, but I have been working on weapons." Jimmy replied, and he walked over to a small glass cabinet. He opened it, and inside were five pairs of glowing jewels.

"Aren't those Meldar's matrix generators?" Cindy inquired, and Jimmy nodded.

"Yeah, I built five less powerful versions in case of an emergency. There nothing like Meldar's originals, but they give us a good chance against The General." Jimmy took each pair out, and handed them to each member of the group in turn. Carl received deep purple generators, and Libby got fire red. Cindy got emerald green, Jimmy had built them to match her eyes, and Jimmy picked out a pair coloured ocean blue. Finally Jimmy picked up the last pair, they had been built for Sheen; and Jimmy's eyes began to water as he stared into them. Eventually he handed them to Nick, who accepted the black and red generators quietly; respecting what a deep moment it was for the group.

"We should all go home." Carl piped up, and the others nodded. Carl lay back on a bed Jimmy had made for him, Cindy and Libby went their homes; and Nick stayed beside Jimmy.

"Jimmy do you mind if I have a word?" The young boy asked gently.

"Yeah, let's go outside." Jimmy replied emptily, and the two boys stepped out into the yard.

"I know that was hard for you." Nick said, and Jimmy looked up. Nick Dean was actually sounding sensitive.

"Sheen betrayed us, I had no choice." The genius replied bitterly.

"Jimmy I know you don't trust me, but I'm asking you to give me a chance."

"Since when did you become smart?" Jimmy said, and Nick laughed.

"I've always been fairly bright, but next to your genius I didn't stand a chance." Now it was Jimmy's turn to laugh.

"I suppose so, but Nick why did you take The General's kick to protect Cindy?"

"Because I don't want to see anybody hurt. I'll do what I need to do." Nick replied, and he walked away. Jimmy felt stronger, and he began to trust Nick.

Sheen stood in the shadows; the boy was breathing heavily. He knew that Jimmy believed he was a traitor, and he was filled with remorse. His former best friend believed that he was evil, and that he was trying to destroy the planet. He had to prove his innocence, but he didn't know where to start. He knew that Jimmy must have some sort of recording of him, and only he knew it was forged. He had to find some sort of evidence which proved his innocence, or he would die trying.

Captain D stood in the alleyway, as the man made his way cautiously towards the sinister Captain. He was fairly tall, with black hair, and shifty eyes. He was wearing a suit, which had a gun in the inside pocket. One could never be too careful dealing with dangerous people like Captain D.

"I take it you were behind what happened at the school yesterday?" The man asked slowly, and wearily.

"I take it you have what I asked for?" The Captain said, and he held out his hand. The man placed a file in the Captain's open hand, and stepped out fully into the light. He was looking scared, but once he realised his life was under no threat; his face began to change into a look of confidence.

"What next?" The guy asked.

"We take it one step at a time Ed, for the minute this file is enough."

"And what am I supposed to do?"

"Go back to the bank, and relax for a while. I have the evidence, and you have £250,000 in your bank account off shore. Everybody is happy." Ed sniffled, he was clearly unhappy.

"Would you rather me kill you?" Captain D asked, plainly amused.

"No, but I could do with more money." He stepped back suddenly, as if the Captain might lash out at any moment.

"When the time comes, we will have another job for you. Then you will receive your money, until then you will have to wait." The Captain leapt upwards, and landed on a roof. He sprinted across the rooftops, leaping from one to the other. Ed stood and watched him until the Captain was out of sight, and he pulled a disk out of his pocket. It contained all of the information that the file had in it, and it was Ed's bargaining tool. He could blackmail the Captain with the info, and earn more money. Alternatively, he could sell the disk to Neutron in exchange for some patents, the possibilities were endless. From now on Ed Mercy was in control, or at least that's what he thought…

The General watched Retroville go about in its daily business, and decided it was time to strike. He activated some killer androids, and set off towards the city. The world would never forget the massacre of Retroville City…

The Master sat in his chair; Neutron was putting up a good fight. So far he killed Hunt, and was now proceeding to challenge The General! The man stood up, Neutron had played the game long enough. The pieces were in place; it was time to let his nemesis know who was behind everything.

The General launched a rocket at the building, and it burst into flames. People began to scream, and run for their lives as fast as possible. The androids spring into action, killing many in the ensuing havoc from the original blast. Nothing would survive.

Jimmy called the others as quick as he could, and soon five friends were standing together. Each had their matrix generators in hand, and they teleported themselves to the City centre. They ran to The General, and blasted him. The machine turned angrily, and fired at the group. Everyone ran for cover, as The General drew ever closer. Eventually they chanced it, and came out firing. The blasts hit the deadly robot, and forced him backwards. The androids surrounded the group, but Nick stepped in and levitated all the robots. He then dropped them, and the machines were destroyed. The General snarled.

"You may be stronger, but I can still crush you!" Above the robot a wormhole appeared, and a hooded figure came out.

"Peace General." And the android stopped.

"Yes my master."

"Master?" Carl asked confused.

"I thought you were behind all this." Libby said, and the hooded man laughed.

"You thought wrong, I am behind everything." The man laughed mockingly.

"Allow me to introduce my master; the lord of the shadows; the master of the crimson night; the great evil; the one who will completely annihilate Earth. Please welcome-"

"Eustace Strych." Jimmy said, and the figure took off his hood. Revealing a disfigured face, of a former billionaire boy…


	18. Chapter 18

A.N. Sorry about the long wait, but my computer has been messing me up recently. Anyway here is Chapter 18, enjoy!-badwolf1

_**Chapter 18- Eustace returns!**_

"But how? You're dead!" Exclaimed Libby staring at Eustace, who was hovering in the air, as if the billionaire was a ghost.

"Not entirely, I survived our last encounter; and now I have come for my final vengeance." Eustace floated downwards, and landed in front of the group. The General stood beside him, and knelt beside his master.

"How did you survive?" Cindy asked the billionaire.

"Did you really think that I, Eustace Strych, would kill himself before destroying Jimmy Neutron and his friends? If you believed that I was gone then you're a fool. You didn't think I was dead did you Jimmy?" Eustace remarked, finishing the speech with a sarcastic question aimed at Jimmy.

"I knew you were alive." Jimmy said slowly, and everybody turned to look at him.

"How did you know he was alive Jimmy?" Carl asked his best friend.

"I think that is what we all want to know." Eustace commented in an interested voice.

"When we raided Hunt's hotel we opened a safe, inside that safe there were two things: A key to the master lift, and a script of a conversation between Hunt and Eustace."

"Very clever." Eustace muttered, and he stared at Jimmy.

"Why did you jump off that cliff Eustace?" Libby asked him.

"I needed a new start, so I decided to escape from this world. I was faced with overwhelming odds, and made a decision. I faked my own death."

"But it didn't work." Carl said.

"What makes you say that?" Eustace inquired.

"From the look of your body it didn't work." Nick said, gazing at Eustace's body. He was, like The General, part machine part human.

"What happened to you Eustace?" Cindy asked him, and the billionaire began to tell the story of how he survived…

"_I leapt down the cliff, and thought that I could hang on to one of the ledges. I misjudged the fall, and found there were no ledges on the cliff. I plummeted downwards, and eventually found a ledge. I grabbed on, and managed to pull myself up. I was cut deeply, and was bleeding badly. I knew that I was going to die, it was inevitable that the end was near. I welcomed death, and then at the last second, none other than Desmond Hunt saved me. _

_The Hunt family were rich, and were friends of my family for years. The head of the family Desmond's father, Alfred Hunt, had great respect for me and ordered Desmond to get my body. Desmond of course complied, he to respected me, and discovered me alive. I was quickly rescued, and was brought to the Hunt's mansion. Alfred took me in, and attempted to heal me. However my body was far beyond repair, I was doomed. Then Alfred used technology from the future to heal me, and I was astounded to find myself alive. My body was still battered; there was nothing we could do. Then began the rebuilding of my body, we salvaged our futuristic technology and made me as you see me now. Unfortunately, Alfred died shortly afterwards, but Desmond pledged his services to me. I began to plot once more my ultimate revenge, this time it had to be perfect. It was at that point I sent myself into the future, and discovered that your group was hugely successful. I was even more annoyed at this fact, and set about changing the future. I found the remains of Wayne Mace, and from my old Yolkian war machine blueprints, I created The General. I gathered an army of followers, made myself powerful in both the present and the future and waged war on humanity. I returned more powerful than ever."_

Jimmy stared at Eustace, until Nick dared to break the silence.

"We'll still stop you." The General laughed; his first time in doing so since he had became a robot.

"You can not hope to stop the events we have began." The machine snarled, and Nick stepped forward.

"I can try." The hostility between the two grew, until Nick unleashed a blast with his generators. Then all hell broke loose!

The General began firing everywhere, and the group divided. Jimmy and Cindy took the left hand side, Nick and Libby on the right, and Carl in the centre. All five friends charged, and The General was out manoeuvred. The machine attempted to destroy the five children, but he could not hit them all at once. He suddenly swerved, and fired a direct shot at Carl. The poor teenager was flung up into the air, and Jimmy managed to catch him in a forcefield made by the generators. Cindy went around The General's back, and fired. The deadly robot screamed in pain, and turned to face the teenage girl. The General's eyes were full of fury, and he prepared to destroy Cindy. Jimmy got in the way, and faced the full brunt of the deadly power of the machine.

Eustace laughed! He was close to victory, but now he could unleash his true army.

"Nice try Jimmy, but it is time for you to die." Eustace clapped his hands, and machines began to pour in everywhere. The group were surrounded, there was no way out. They were doomed.

"I have returned for my vengeance Neutron, and now I shall have it!"

A.N. Well that's what we like! Next chapter will focus on Sheen, and the previously encountered Ed Mercy! By the way my new forum is open now, in which you can ask me questions about any piece of my work, future storylines etc.


	19. Chapter 19

_**Chapter 19- Ed's story. **_

Ed Mercy walked through an alleyway, and stood back against a wall. He was tired, but soon it would all be over. Ed was a vital part in D's plan. He cast his mind back to when he met to Captain D…

_Ed Mercy was a petty thief; he worked at a bank; and was slowly siphoning money out of different accounts. Ed hoped to make a lot of money, and then flee the country as fast as possible. It should have taken him about two and a half years to make enough money, and then he would live a great lifestyle forever. He had no family, so it was easy for him to leave and begin a new existence. Ed was working at his cubicle, when he received an email telling him to go outside to an alleyway in one hour. Ed was curious, and decided to go out into the alleyway. _

_One hour later Ed Mercy walked into the alleyway, and saw a teenager standing in the darkness. He squinted, and saw that the adolescent was wearing amask. Ed walked towards the figure, and tapped him on the shoulder gently. The boy raised his head, and kicked Ed in the stomach. The middle-aged banker was sent flying into a bin, and struggled upwards slowly._

"_Don't tap me." The stranger muttered, as he walked towards the thief slowly, malice in his eyes. _

"_What do you want?" Ed stuttered, as he began to walk away. _

"_Don't move, or I will kill you." The boy said casually. _

"_What do you want me for?" Ed was staying deadly still._

"_We need your help Ed Mercy."_

"_What for?"_

"_You have great talents Ed, talents we could use in our plan. We know you have access to certain recordings, such as security tapes from areas. We need you to fabricate recordings to incriminate Sheen Estevez, or we could kill you now. It's that simple, take your time." The captain stood back against the wall, and he pulled out a gun._

"_What do you have against Estevez?"_

"That's nothing to do with you, just do the job. Unless you've grown tired of life, in that case refuse our offer."

"They'll find out that you killed me." Ed stated simply.

"_You don't know who I am yourself."_

"_How can you be sure?"_

"_I just know, you know what age I am. But nothing more. Besides I think you will do the job."_

"_And why?" _

"_You will be paid two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and will be paid more in later time."_

"_Two hundred and fifty thousand?" The banker was astounded._

"_Two hundred and fifty thousand."_

"_What do I do first?" And Captain D explained what events Ed would put into motion…_

Ed had forged the recordings of Sheen with weapons, and fed them into the school database. He had then deleted the original recordings. He had also been responsible for funding Mr Hunt's holiday enterprise, and he had also made sure Captain D and The General were able to bring their armies into Retroville secretly. The Retroville bank was the biggest company in the small town, and was responsible for everything. This made it easy for Ed to have access to just about anything, which allowed his master to complete his dark plans without to much trouble.

Sheen walked towards the lab quickly, he did not particularly want to been seen. He happened to know that Jimmy was fighting Eustace at the moment, and had decided to take his opportunity to investigate the events that were taking place. Sheen stared at the lab door, its security system would be sure to reject him. So Sheen had to find a more custom method of entering the lab, so he returned to the backyard. Sheen picked up a brick, and threw it through the clubhouse window. Sheen climbed through the window, and was greeted by a growling Goddard.

"Goddard calm down! Its me Sheen." Goddard's screen appeared, and words began to type across it.

"You traitor." Sheen shook his head.

"I'm not a traitor, I've been framed."

"By who?"

"I don't know, all I know is that I have been framed."

"And if I don't believe you?" Goddard activated a laser, and pointed it straight at Sheen. A bead of sweat appeared on Sheen's forehead, Goddard wouldn't shoot him would he?

"Goddard I've been framed, please help me." Sheen begged, the mechanical dog considered it for a second; and retracted the laser.

"I believe you, now what do you need?" Sheen smiled, and then he quickly grew serious again.

"I need access to Jimmy's computer, and personnel records for employees of Retroville Bank." Goddard quickly complied with the boy's commands, and logged him on to the Internet.

Sheen began to trawl through records of people who worked at the bank, until he found one that looked very promising. The man's name was Grant Edwards, and he had a criminal record. Sheen stared at the picture, Grant was middle-aged; his hair was dark brown, his eyes a shallow pale blue, and the face itself dark and tired. This was a man who was put through a lot of pressure, a man who had been in prison for a year, a man who may have framed Sheen for joining Eustace's side.

"Don't tell Jimmy I was here." Sheen told the dog, and he left to have a confrontation with Grant Edwards.

Sheen walked into the street where Edwards lived, and headed for the criminal's apartment. It was a nice place from the outside, quite spacious, with double glazed windows and doors. Sheen tried the door, and surprised to discover it was open. A sense of dread filled Sheen, maybe Edwards was expecting him. The teenager walked into the living room, and spotted a folder with his name on a table. Sheen picked up the item, and scanned through the contents of the text. Everything was there, how Sheen had been framed, why he had been framed, if he gave this folder to Jimmy it would completely clear him.

Sheen suddenly went to try the bedroom door, he didn't know why; he just did. A horrifying site met the teenager's eyes, Grant Edwards lying on the bed; a bullet hold between his eyes. Suddenly everything became clear to Sheen; Grant had been set up. The real person behind all of this had killed the banker, and was using his home as a base. Sheen suddenly noticed a glass of lemonade by the bedside table, it was still fresh. The real killer was still in the apartment…

Ed crept up on Sheen effortlessly, and he put his hands around the boy's mouth and nose. Sheen didn't even have time to cry out before he fell unconscious. Ed picked up the folder, and decided to take it with him. Sheen lay on the floor the entire time. Completely out cold…


	20. Chapter 20

_**Chapter 20- Battle for survival.**_

The machines surrounded the group, and Eustace laughed triumphantly. Jimmy looked around, but the genius could see no way out. Eustace had him well and truly beaten. Now all he could do was wait to die.

"Just end it Strych." Jimmy muttered calmly, and The General and Eustace looked shocked.

"Desperate for the end already Neutron?" Eustace said mockingly.

"You have us beaten, so just kill us." Jimmy said, in the same calm tones as before.

"Now Neutron, I have a weakness for dramatics. I want to see you mentally broken first, then you will die." Eustace stared at the group, they had huddled together so they had a better defence; but it still would not be enough to stop the machines.

"What are you going to do Eustace, you have tried to torture me mentally before remember? In the end we beat you, and you became as you are now. Why don't you just kill us?"

"I think I know how I can torture you Jimmy." The General pointed towards Cindy, and the machines fired into her stomach. The teenage girl gazed at hole in her chest in shock, and fell to the ground.

Time seemed to suddenly stop for Jimmy in that moment, Cindy had been shot. Suddenly nothing else mattered. Only the welfare of his girlfriend mattered now. Jimmy ran to her side, and stared at the wound. It was fatal; it would take amazing power to heal that kind of injury. Jimmy felt tears well up in his eyes, how could this happen to him? He loved Cindy more than life, so why did she have to be taken from him? It felt so unfair; Cindy was going to die.

"Jimmy." She whispered the genius's name quietly, and he bent down beside her.

"I'm here Cindy." Jimmy smiled, and took the teenage girl's hand.

"I love you Jimmy." Cindy's voice became fainter; she was going to die any second.

"I love you to Cindy, just stay with us a little longer." Cindy's emerald eyes, which normally burnt with such a strong fire, were shallow, weak, and fading by the minute. Jimmy began to cry, nobody deserved to lose somebody they loved so much like this.

Libby and Nick stared at the couple, and Nick took hold of Libby's hand. She smiled at the boy, and he returned the smile. Libby began to cry as well, Cindy was her best friend; and she was going to lose her.

Carl gazed at the scene, and fell down on his knees. Eustace had taken one his best friends from him, and the evil billionaire could only laugh. Tears fell freely from Carl's eyes.

Jimmy felt Cindy's pulse, and then it stopped. She was dead. Suddenly Jimmy remembered when him and Cindy first met.

_Six year old Jimmy Neutron walked into Retroville Park, and noticed a blond haired girl on the swings. He walked over to her, and thought that the girl was very pretty. _

"_Hi I'm Jimmy Neutron, what's your name?" The girl stared at him, smiled and then replied._

"_My name is Cindy, Cindy Vortex." Jimmy smiled._

"_I like that name, it has a certain ring to it." Jimmy looked thoughtful. _

"_I like your name as well, Jimmy." Cindy smiled._

"_Jimmy and Cindy." Jimmy said thoughtfully, and he smiled at the girl. _

"_That sounds nice, Jimmy and Cindy. Sounds like something that could be said years from now, almost as if we're destined to get married or something." Cindy stared straight into Jimmy's eyes._

"_Yeah, that would be nice." Cindy walked away, and Jimmy stared at her. For the first time he had a really good feeling about moving to Retroville, he was going to have a lot of fun._

Jimmy cried beside Cindy's dead body for minutes, but for the young genius it felt like hours of emotional torment.

"I told you I could hurt you Neutron." Eustace stated simply. Jimmy turned to look at his nemesis with rage in his eyes.

"You took her from me." He said plainly, his voice was empty and emotionless.

"What are you going to do?" Eustace challenged the genius.

"I loved her, and now she's gone." Jimmy let the tears flow from his face, and he turned to face Nick.

"Nick cover the others in a shield with your generators." Nick stared blankly at Jimmy.

"Why?"

"Just do it, and look after Libby." Jimmy turned to face Eustace and The General. "This is what I'm going to do." Jimmy placed his generators together, and held his arms up in the air. A light emitted from the blue devices, and then a massive explosion came from them. Nick and the others were blinded by the light as it grew brighter, until the dust cleared. Nick spotted Jimmy on the ground; the genius hadn't been able to shield himself. The group rushed over to their friend as fast as possible.

Jimmy was badly scarred, and he didn't appear to be breathing.

"Don't let him be dead." Carl prayed, as the group waited to see whether Jimmy would wake up. Suddenly the genius choked, and stood up. He rushed towards Cindy's body, and blasted her with his generators. The three friends stood confused as Jimmy blasted the body repeatedly.

"What's he doing?" Carl asked quietly.

"He's using his generators to see of he can revive her." Libby answered, and the friends waited with baited breath to find out whether Jimmy could bring Cindy back or not.

Jimmy stared at Cindy's motionless body, and knew what he had to do. He summoned all of his generators remaining power, and fed it into Cindy's heart. Jimmy concentrated, as he manipulated the raw energy to heal his girlfriends wound. Cindy suddenly spluttered, and woke up!

"Jimmy!" She shouted, and ran over to hug him. Tears began to once more pour down Jimmy's face.

"What's the matter?"

"I thought I'd lost you." He whispered softly.

"I'm alive." She said happily.

"And so am I." A chilling voice from behind them said.

The group turned to come to face to face with Eustace and The General once more.

"A brave attempt Neutron, but a foolish one." Jimmy let his generators drop the ground, they were completely drained.

"Jimmy catch!" Nick threw the genius his own generators.

"Are you sure?" The teenage genius asked.

"Yeah, I prefer laser swords anyway." Nick said confidently as he drew out a sword.

"I'll finish you all off myself." The General said, and he stepped forward.

"Carl, Libby defend the city. Cindy, Nick; lets end this." Jimmy said, and the three friends stepped forward to face The General in one final confrontation.

A.N. Cliffhanger! Don't worry I wasn't really going to kill Cindy, not for the minute anyway! One maincharacter won't make it to the end of the story though! Only about 10 more chapters before the final story will be released! I'm taking all suggestions on what it will be called, and who dies at the end of Rising Darkness! Make them in your review, or on my new forum! That's what it is there for!


	21. Chapter 21

a.n. Well sorry for the people who were expecting this eariler, but my maths teachers interfered! She gave me loads of homework, you're lucky I'm here now! Anyway when in the chapter it sayd Wayne it is simply referring to The General, read and enjoy!-badwolf1.

_**Chapter 21- Last Stand- Part One.**_

Jimmy fired at The General, but the android darted out of the way. The machine quickly responded by firing at the genius, but Jimmy brought up his shields and the shots simply bounced away. Nick attacked the robot with his sword, and surprisingly forced back the machine.

"You're powerful boy."

"You haven't seen anything yet monster." Nick suddenly attacked again, but The General quickly countered the assault, and spun his sword around; before attempting to stab Nick.

Cindy watched Nick and The General duel, and she decided to join in on the fight. She began to summon up her generator power, and then she unleashed it all in one blast. The General was sent flying backwards, but he quickly recovered.

Jimmy, Cindy and Nick grouped together and prepared for the next attack.

"You okay Cindy?" Jimmy asked his girlfriend.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Jimmy nodded, and activated the hidden power of his generators. Jimmy suddenly flew upward into the air, and fired on The General!

"How are you doing that?" Wayne shouted, as he fired at the genius.

"I built these generators for Sheen, and I made them so he could fly; just like Ultralord!" Jimmy replied, as he dodged the bullets heading straight for him.

"Clever." The General snarled as he swivelled around to block an attack from Nick. The pair held their laser swords together in some sort of stalemate, until Wayne brought his sword up; and quickly brought it crashing down again. Nick rolled backwards to avoid being sliced in half, and then countered by bringing his sword around and attempting to cut off The General's arm. The General blocked it, and they faced each other waiting for the other to make the next move.

Meanwhile Libby and Carl were defending the city against Eustace's army. Carl blasted two robots apart, and quickly ran before another one shot him. Libby did a forward roll straight through one machine's legs, and then destroyed him from behind. Despite being outnumbered the two friends had an advantage, their generators made them practically unstoppable. Libby wiped out the last machine and smiled.

"How you doing?" Libby said to Carl, as the friends stood next to each other.

"Not bad, just worrying about Jimmy and Cindy." The teenager answered honestly. Eustace laughed and summoned more machines. This time there were hundreds of the killer robots.

"I think you should be worrying about us Carl." Libby told him as she backed away slowly.

"Kill them." Eustace commanded, and the robots charged…

The General avoided another blast from Cindy, as he ran across the street at a super fast speed. He ran in front of buildings, and quickly returned fire. Cindy brought up her shield, and the bullets simply hit the floor. The General stopped, and leapt up onto a roof. He ran across the rooftop, and jumped off it. Jimmy watched astonished as his enemy landed on a motorbike, started it and sped off into the streets.

"He's running away." Nick said angrily.

"Not this time." Cindy said, and she ran towards three mountain bikes. She blew up the locks, and pointed towards them.

"Lets go." Jimmy uttered, and he descended onto his bike. It was bright red, a good frame, top of the range wheels, and a good braking system. Jimmy began to pedal, the chase was on.

The General accelerated; he needed a crowded area. He looked behind him, and saw Jimmy, Cindy and Nick gaining. The General snarled, and shifted into fourth gear. They were not going to catch him.

Jimmy saw The General pull ahead, and shook his head. The machine was going to fast; there was no way to catch him on the bike. They needed something faster, something like a motorbike. It was then Jimmy realised! He had just the thing in the lab, all he had to do was call Goddard.

"Goddard, bring the teleport the minicycles here immediately." The dog barked in response, and a blue light appeared. The next second three mini motorbikes were in the group's path.

"Pick a bike." Jimmy told the others, as he headed towards his own personal bike. It was red like the mountain bike, but this had lasers on the front. An engine capable of one hundred and eight miles an hour; and it of course had the neutron symbol on the seat. The engines themselves absorbed air pollutants, and converted them into fuel. Jimmy was quite proud of his bikes, but he had sworn only to use them in an emergency. This situation seemed to qualify as an emergency.

Cindy chose a blue bike; it had the same modifications as Jimmy's bike, except it had automatic machine guns on the front instead of lasers. Nick chose a green bike; it was built in the exact same way as Jimmy's, so there was no difference. The three mounted their new bikes, and hit the accelerator. It was time to catch The General.

Carl and Libby continued to fight the army of machines, but they were both tiring. No matter how many robots they destroyed, there were always more ready to step in.

"I can't keep going." Libby said, as she wiped out another group of androids.

"Just carry on Libs, we can do it!" Carl shouted back, but at that moment, one machine shot Carl in the chest. The boy sunk to his knees in pain, and the robot prepared to finish him off.

"Carl!" Libby screamed, and she ran towards the robots knocking them all out of the way for her friend. She made it just in time, and she destroyed the machine.

"Are you all right Carl?" She asked sympathetically, and the boy nodded,

"I'll live for now, now run before they catch us." Libby shook her head.

"I'm not leaving you, while you can still walk." At that moment hundreds of machines surrounded the two friends, and held their guns up at them.

"Can I leave now?" Libby asked nervously, as she prepared for the worst.

Jimmy and the others had once again caught up to The General, and they were ready to fight. Jimmy got on one side of The General, and Cindy got on the other. They both rammed into him, and The General snarled again. The metal monster reversed, but Nick was directly behind him. The teenager fired his lasers, and Wayne only just managed to swerve in time. The General grinned, and headed towards a shop door. He shot it down, and drove straight threw the shop. Jimmy and the others followed, so The General decided to block them off. He pointed his gun up towards the ceiling, and fired a few rounds. The roof began to collapse, and The General laughed as he escaped to freedom.

Jimmy saw the roof falling down, and hit the accelerator just in time. He sped straight past the debris, just before the entire place fell down. Jimmy winced as he heard the customers screaming, then a deadly silence. They had been crushed. Jimmy put his foot down, and so did Cindy and Nick. They had to stop The General.

Libby shut her eyes, and waited for the sweet sanctuary of death. Suddenly there a large noise, and she opened her eyes again. The army had arrived! Within minutes the machines were decimated, and Libby and Carl were safe.

"You're safe now." The captain told them, and a low horrible chuckle came from behind them.

"They may be safe, but the real question is: are you?" Eustace moved like lightning, and the next second he struck the captain in the neck with his metal hand. The head rolled away on the floor, and Libby screamed. Eustace stood there, his right hand covered in blood, as the army opened fire on world enemy number one.

The General could not believe it; Neutron was still following him! The teenage genius was neck a neck with him now, so The General decided to take one last cause of action. He headed for a ramp, and flew up into the air.

"Follow me now!" The General challenged Jimmy, and the genius smiled.

"Fine then." Jimmy also headed off the ramp, and went full speed. He flew upwards, and smashed into The General's bike. The two riders went crashing down, and they hit the floor with a sickening thud. The General staggered up from the wreckage of his bike, and stared. Neutron's minicycle had been completely destroyed, and Neutron buried underneath it. The General laughed; the idiot had died trying to imitate his own stunt on the ramp.

"So long Neutron." The machine said, as he walked away.

"Don't think you can beat me that easy!" Jimmy shouted, and a black light appeared from underneath the bike. Jimmy rose up, with a shield around him.

"You survived." The General said blankly.

"Yeah, now lets end this." Jimmy said, as Nick and Cindy, who had taken the long way round, pulled up beside him.

"Fine we'll end it." The General suddenly appeared beside Jimmy, and grabbed him by the throat. Jimmy began to choke, and he turned red in the face.

"Air…" He gasped, as The General tightened his grip.

"You wanted this over Neutron, well now I'm ending it!"

The army fired every gun they had at Eustace all at once, and the billionaire's hands moved with an astonishing speed. He opened the palm of his hand, and the bullets dropped to the floor. Eustace then ran up to one soldier, kicked his head off; and then he picked up the dead man's gun. Eustace laughed as he slaughtered the army, and then he turned his attention to Libby and Carl.

"You've made your last stand, and now you're finished."

A.N. Cliffhanger! Don't you just love cliffhangers? Well so long for now-badwolf1.


	22. Chapter 22

_**Chapter 22- Last Stand- Part Two.**_

"You're going to die Neutron." The General smirked, and tightened his grip on the genius's throat.

"Jimmy," Cindy whispered, he had almost given his life for her only an hour before. Now she would do the same.

"Put him down!" She screamed, and she unleashed her full fury through the generators.

The General stared as a full energy blast smashed into him, and he let go of Jimmy immediately. The General couldn't believe it as he began to regenerate; Cindy had really damaged his internal systems.

Jimmy lay on the floor breathing heavily, another few seconds and he would have been dead. He was lucky, and the genius knew it. There was also another thing Jimmy realised, The General had almost killed him; the machine was a real threat. Suddenly it hit Jimmy; most of his other enemies had not tried to kill him. These people meant business; they were quite prepared to finish him off.

The General finished healing himself, and then turned to face Cindy.

"How dare you attack me girl." The General stepped forward, and moved to strike the girl.

"Oh no you don't!" Jimmy shouted and blasted The General away. The machine stumbled into a wall, and tripped straight through it. The wall crumbled away, and Jimmy and the others followed the path of destruction back to The General.

"Wait, where are we?" Nick asked as screaming people ran around.

"We're in the Retroville mall." Cindy whispered quietly as recognition filled her eyes.

"In a loud public place, we're in The General's playground now." Jimmy said, his voice full of worry.

"Then let the games begin." Nick commented, and he looked around. The General could be around any corner.

The General smiled as he watched the group search for him; they would never find him before he could strike. This was the perfect place for an attack; hundreds of innocent civilians were in this building. If Jimmy tried to stop him, then he could just take one of the civilian's hostage.

Carl and Libby stared as Eustace approached them slowly, he was smiling horribly.

"Goodbye you pathetic children." He laughed, and prepared to kill them both.

"Get away from them you freak!" Eustace turned, and saw one last soldier standing with a machine gun. Eustace's eyes opened wide with fear, as at least twenty bullets headed towards him. Dust scattered everywhere, and Eustace was no longer visible as he disappeared in a storm of gunfire.

"Kids run now." The soldier told them, he knew that the monster was not finished.

Libby looked worried, Carl was still injured.

"Can you run Carl?" She asked the boy sensitively, and he nodded.

"I can just about sprint, but let's go." Carl and Libby began to escape, and left their unknown saviour to face the rage of Eustace Strych.

The soldier, whose name was Robert Shadow, watched and waited for Eustace to emerge. Robert had a family, but he knew those kids were the future. He was ready to die, if it meant that Retroville could be rescued from a horrendous fate.

Eustace came out of the carnage caused by Shadow, and scowled at the last man standing. He had tried to protect Libby and Carl, Eustace admired his heroism, but he would still die.

"Give me the children." The lord of shadows snarled, but Robert stood defiant.

"You'll have to go through me first." Robert told the former billionaire, and a horrifying ghost of a smile passed over Eustace's face. The master of darkness began to run as fast as he could straight at Shadow, and he passed straight through him.

"I went through you, now I can take of the brats." The smile flickered from Eustace's face, replaced by a serious and ominous look. Endgame was coming…

Cindy, Nick and Jimmy were still searching for The General. The shopping mall had not been affected by The General's first attacks, and many civilians were still unaware of the new threat to their lives. This meant that people were out in the open, rather than hiding like other parts of town. It was as if the mall had been designed to suit The General in every way.

"Where is he?" Nick asked exasperated, and he heard a dark sinister chuckle from behind the group. Nick and the others turned around, and came face to face with The General again.

"I'm right here." The android told Nick, and he began to attack the boy.

"It's over Wayne! We'll capture Sheen, without him you won't stand that greater chance." The General screamed in fury, and pulled out an automatic machine gun. He fired everywhere, and people began to scream.

"Don't call me Wayne! I am The General! I will kill you!" Jimmy looked scared as The General finished screaming, and began to run towards some stairs.

"You're not getting away this time." Nick ran after the metal monster, and Jimmy shouted after him.

"Wait! You can't take him down alone! You need our help!" Nick considered it for a moment, and then shouted back.

"Take the lift; I'll meet you up there." Before Jimmy could reply Nick disappeared, the teenager had followed The General.

Jimmy and Cindy sprinted towards the lift, and pressed the up button. People were screaming and shouting as they ran riot around the mall, some were trying to escape; others hiding in stores. Everybody was panicking, and it even made the two heroes standing in a lift feel uneasy.

"If we get out of this then we'll be the luckiest people ever to live." Cindy said as the lift took them upwards, and Jimmy smiled at her.

"We'll get out of this; I promise you that I will get you out of this alive. I will make sure you don't die." Cindy looked disturbed.

"And what about you?" Jimmy didn't reply, and instead an awkward silence filled the lift.

Nick and The General continued their battle as they walked up the staircase, which was leading to the third floor, as Jimmy and Cindy made their way to the same destination via the lift.

At the top of the mall the manager sat in a leather chair, his eyes tired and distraught, as he tracked the chaos in the mall by camera.

"What can we do?" He asked a worker, who was just as nervous as his employer.

"We have to get the customers in a safe area." He said, as he watched the battle unfold.

"Good idea, do we still have the armoured room?" The man pulled up records of the refurbishment the years before, and quickly trawled through them.

"We still have the room; we can send the customers there if needed." The worker replied, and he turned back to the screens.

"We will only use such drastic measures as a last resort." The manager muttered nervously, and although he had never been a religious man; at that moment in time he began to pray that everything would be alright.

"Sir, they're coming towards the third floor; what should we do?" The manager considered it for a moment, and then instructed the workers.

"Retract the staircase."

Swords clashed together as Nick and The General walked up the stairs duelling each other.

"You can't defeat me you pathetic child." Wayne struggled as Nick attempted to defeat him, but he forced the teenager back. Suddenly the staircase moved backwards, it was disappearing before the warriors' eyes. The General leapt upwards, and stood on top of the ledge above the third floor. The staircase was moving like an escalator, except it would now simply vanish; and leave Nick in the air to fall.

Nick had to think fast, or die. He grabbed onto the stairs, and allowed himself to be dragged upwards. Nick only had a few seconds left, it was time to think. He looked all around him, and saw a staircase beneath him. Nick looked at him, and braced himself. It was death by the current staircase, or death by being crushed by another staircase. He had to take a chance; the boy let himself fall towards his only chance of escape.

Nick plummeted downwards at an amazing speed, he would die if he hit the ground at his current pace. He took out his laser sword and stabbed it into the wall, he stopped moving and began to breathe. He looked won, he was not that far from the staircase now, he could easily drop the new distance and survive. He fell down, and began to run upwards towards the roof. The General would soon discover what he had done, and he had to be prepared.

Jimmy and Cindy looked out for Nick and The General but could see nothing, their lift had stopped and they were not aware of what was going on.

"I'll see if I can fix this thing." Jimmy told his girlfriend, and he started to work on it. Cindy just sat down, and waited. She couldn't believe the way the events had turned, a week ago she had been enjoying herself with Jimmy; and now she was protecting the planet. How could this happen? Why couldn't everyone just leave them alone? Why did it have to be them? A tear dropped from Cindy's eye as she contemplated everything that had happened, and Jimmy instantly turned around and looked at her. He sat down beside her, and tried to reassure her; but he knew it was useless.

"Cindy everything is going to be okay, we'll make it through this. We'll win the war." Cindy shook her head.

"Why does there have to be any war at all? Why do we have to fight Jimmy?" Jimmy understood what she said, and took hold of her hand.

"Because we're the ones who Eustace wants. He wants us dead, this is all because of us. I understand if you want the fighting to stop, so I'll give you a choice Cindy. You can leave right now, Eustace wants me more than you. You can run away and disappear, or you can stay and fight to the end. Its your choice Cindy, but there's no backing away from either decision." Cindy considered it for a moment, and then made her choice.

"To the end." She told Jimmy, and he smiled.

Suddenly Jimmy's phone began to ring, and slowly the genius answered.

Libby and Carl continued to hide in the city centre as Eustace hunted them down, and both were seriously worried.

"We can't stay out here much longer Carl." Libby whispered, and Carl agreed. They both suddenly made a run for it, and Eustace saw them. He moved like lightning, and was in front of them in seconds. The lord of darkness grinned evilly.

"And where are you two going then?" He asked nastily, and he punched Carl in the stomach. The teenager groaned and fell to the floor, he was in absolute agony. Libby blasted Eustace with her generators, but he simply stopped the attack as if nothing had happened.

"Nice try Libby, but its time to die." Libby thought for a second, and then realised something. She still had one talent left, her voice. She hit a high note, and everything smashed in half. Eustace covered his ears, and Libby took her chance. She fired a blast at him, and the monster was forced back by the power of it. Libby picked up Carl using her generators power, and then sprinted away from the battle scene as fast as humanly possible.

Eustace stood up disorientated, the girl had got the better of him. Not that it mattered, he could hunt down the pests another day. All that mattered was Neutron, the others could perish with the Earth.

Jimmy answered the phone call, it was Nick.

"Jimmy where are you?" Nick asked the genius.

"I'm in the lift, but its broken down. I'm trying to repair it now, why what's the matter?"

"The General's hunting me down, I don't have much longer. I need help now!" Jimmy nodded, and looked at Cindy and pointed towards the lift controls. She took his tools, which he kept on him in his pocket, and began work on fixing the lift.

"Okay Nick, which floor are you on?"

"The fifth floor, about six floors away from the roof."

"Okay, stay there and we'll catch up. We're two floors beneath you, it shouldn't take long." Nick hung up, and left Jimmy and Cindy to work on the lift.

Nick hid in the shadows as The General approached, he had to stay on the fifth floor. He had to stay around or Jimmy would never find him, and who knew what might happen then...

The General looked around for the boy, when his mobile began to ring. It was unusual for a killer robot to carry a mobile phone, but the master had insisted. He answered the call, and was greeted with Captain D's voice.

"Enjoying your little game General?" The voice seemed amused, and The General did not like it.

"I am as a matter of fact, and how are you coping in your task?" The tone was still amused, as if the war was nothing more than a game to the Captain.

"Just remember to play your part, and soon Lord Eustace will rule Earth." The General told the Captain, and now the voice became lower and darker. It was no longer treating this as a game.

"I know my part General, I would be more worried about remembering your own part. And I advise you to forget me at the end of your act, or it could damage my performance in this play." The voice had returned to its normal sound, but The General was still unhappy.

"I don't like your attitude, I don't why the master ever asked you for help."

"Because he has known me a lot longer than he has known you, and I am more useful at this point. You are almost finished General, and I wanted to congratulate you on a job well done. And for the last time, goodbye." The Captain hung up, and he left The General feeling worried. An emotion he was not normally associated with, unless he was causing the worry. But the true plan had to go on, and his final action could ensure that.

Jimmy and Cindy fixed the lift, and pressed the button for the fifth floor. The lift began to rise upwards, Jimmy only hoped they were not too late...

Nick and The General were once again locked in life or death combat, and Nick could not hold out for much longer. He was tiring, but The General apperaed to have an infinite supply of energy. The teenager could not last for much longer against such a powerful opponent, he was doomed.

Jimmy and Cindy found themselves on the fifth floor, and they quickly found Nick and The General. They joined the battle, and the three warriors managed to beat the android back for a moment. Jimmy continued to fire at the cyborg, and The General could not block the attack. Nick began to breathe heavily as soon as Cindy stepped in for the final attack, and when she turned The General took advantage of it. He knocked Cindy back, and leapt upwards.

"Lets finish this battle on a high shall we?" He sneered, and he began to jump up and up. He was heading for the roof, and Jimmy flew after him; taking Nick and Cindy with him for the long awaited final confrontation.

Jimmy and the others came to the roof, and found The General waiting for them.

"This is it Neutron! We duel to the end, no more running." Jimmy nodded, and the battle began.

Jimmy and the others quickly gained the upper hand, they had more power and more people. The General turned as fast as he could, but every attack came from a different direction. The teenagers had him beaten, so he decided to adopt a new stratergy to complete his task. He took his laser sword, and pointed it straight at Jimmy.

"You win Neutron." The General then gazed directly at Nick, and the teenager gazed directly back.

"You fight well, you should have joined us." The General plunged the sword into himself, and then stumbled back to the edge of the roof. He dropped against it, and lay there staring blankly. Nick cautiously approached the body, and prodded it with the handle of his sword.

"I think he's dead." The boy said gently, when suddenly a hand reached out and grabbed him by the throat. The General was up and standing, and he hung Nick over the edge of the building laughing. Jimmy started towards the monster, but The General's cold voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Come any closer and he will die." The android stated, and Jimmy backed away.

"You're going to die General, that wound you inflicted on yourself must have caused pain." Cindy shouted, and The General nodded.

"It did, in fact I'll be dead in two minutes. My machine half is failing, and my human side has taken too much damage to survive. I'm dead, but so is your friend." The robot turned to face Nick, who looked right at him; and then at Jimmy and Cindy.

"Tell Libby I'm sorry." He told them, and then he turned back to The General one last time.

"Do it." He commanded the cyborg, and The General complied with his order. Nick Dean plunged down eleven floors to his death, and he left The General with Jimmy and Cindy; both of whom were in shock.

The General coughed, and fell to the floor. It was a hero's death, one that he didn't deserve. He had once tried to make the world a better place, and now look what he had become. He had finished himself off for his master, and it was only now he had his doubts. Now it was the end, The General closed his eyes. And never again would they open, he had made his last stand...

Jimmy and Cindy could only stare in shock, Nick was dead; The General had taken his own life. Now they could not extract any information from the cyborg, Eustace had outsmarted them once again...


	23. Chapter 23

_**Chapter 23- The True Plan.**_

"Are you sure The General is gone Captain?" Eustace's harsh voice rang through the building, and Captain D stood beside him and nodded.

"I am sure my master, the android is dead. We can now advance to the true plan then?"

"If The General has been dealt with then yes, the true plan can begin. How soon can you make the attack?"

"Within the hour, but Neutron will figure out that we have a secondary scheme. Him and his meddling friends will be prepared, we should have a distraction." Eustace considered the cause of action, and then made a decision.

"I will handle Neutron, you make sure that everything goes ahead with our schelude." Captain D bowed.

"Soon master we will rule the universe, soon endgame will come." Eustace laughed triumphantly, Neutron had no idea of what was coming for him...

Jimmy and Cindy looked over the edge of the building, but they couldn't spot Nick's body. The mall had been surrounded by Eustace's machines, and Jimmy was not paticularly anxious to go outside to meet them. The General's body had been left where it lay, the memory banks had been wiped. The cyborg was useless.

Libby and Carl had arrived a while after the end of Nick, and the machines had come soon after. The group was now trapped inside the mall, and now Jimmy and Cindy were converting the shopping centre into a base.

Libby was in a corner crying, first Sheen, now Nick. The teenager couldn't take much more of this, it was like she was destined to be miserable. Why did this happen to her, first of all Sheen was a traitor; and now Nick had been murdered. She felt as if her world had been torn apart, and that it could never be restored. This was all Eustace's fault, and she would make sure he paid for his atrocities.

Sheen woke up to find himself in a chair tied up, and Ed Mercy was stading over him with an evil grin.

"Awake Mr Estevez, I was starting to think that you would remain like that forever." Ed smiled cruelly, he was enjoying Sheen's torment.

"What do you want with me?" Sheen questioned the sinister banker, and Ed simply laughed darkly. And then his voice became lower, more evil.

"All good things come to those who wait Sheen, soon you'll be dead. Just wait a little longer, and then you'll be dead. And you won't be coming back." Ed murmured the words, and Sheen looked afraid. Just the opening the banker needed.

"I'll make you suffer Estevez, make you pay. I have half an hour before my friends arrive, half an hour of playtime. Lets play guns shall we?" Ed pulled out a gun with a silencer attached, and pointed it straight at Sheen.

"Goodbye Sheen Estevez." Sheen braced himself, and felt a hot surge of pain. The bullet had ripped through his arm, and not his head or chest. Mercy didn't want to kill him straight away, he wanted to prolong the agony; to have more fun as he put it.

"Did it hurt Sheen. well it will hurt a lot more. But I won't kill you, this will." Ed placed a minature version of a bomb beside Sheen, and set it for five minutes.

"Have fun dying Sheen." Mercy left the room, and Sheen was all alone as the bomb counted down...

Sheen had to do something, he had four minutes before the end. The key was hanging on a chain behind his head, but both his arms were chained to the chair; and only one foot was free. It had been left free to give Sheen a tiny sliver of hope, so that it could be abruptly taken from him when he died. There had to be a way out, one foot free; and the key was just behind his head. Sheen had a brilliant idea, if he could use his one special talent he could get the key! Slowly with his one foot Sheen put his leg behind his head, and hooked the key off the chain. Now he dropped it into his fingers, and after a minute of fiddling around with it his left hand was free. He now quickly freed himself, and looked at the bomb. He had another minute left, Sheen ran out of the room and got away as fast as possible. He was inside the Retroville bank, and in twenty five minutes something was going to attack it. He had to warn everyone, but first he had to make a phone call.

Sheen stood in the shdows as a banker walked past, he had to time it to perfection. One banker walked past, and ever so gently Sheen took his mobile phone. The boy then returned to the shadows before anyone spotted him, the bomb should have gone off by now, what was going on?

Ed smiled, the bomb was actually controlled remotely. He took the remote out of his pocket, and pressed the button. A signal was automatically sent out, and seconds later an explosion could be heard from a few corridors away. People began to scream, and security headed in the direcion of the disturbance immediately. Ed pocketed the control, and walked back to the main room smiling. Sheen was dead.

Sheen heard the blast, and scowled at how Mercy had tricked him. He had made him believe that he would have been killed in five minutes, the banker was messing with his head. And it was affecting the teenager badly. He dialled one number, and let it ring for a while. He just hoped that the person would pick up in time.

Jimmy heard his mobile ringing, and answered it at once. The genius was surprised to hear Sheen's voice on the other end of the line.

"Jimmy, I need your help. Please you've got to help me."

"Sheen? What are you doing calling me? You're a traitor, and now you're asking me for help. You've got some guts Sheen, I'll give you that." Sheen shook his head, and then began to talk again.

"No, I'm not a traitor. A man named Ed Mercy set me up, he has a folder with evidence that could clear my name. I just need time to get it, then I can prove my innocence." Jimmy hesitated, Sheen could be setting him up. But part of the genius didn't want to believe that his friend was Captain D, part of him wanted to listen to him; to believe him. That part of Jimmy won the inner battle raging within the teenager's mind.

"Where are you at the minute?" Jimmy inquired.

" I'm in Retroville bank, I'm going to get the evidence then leave. I should be ten minutes, where are you now?"

"At the mall, it shouldn't be hard to get in. Take the back entrance, its unguarded. How do I know I can trust you?" Sheen thought about it for a moment.

"You don't know you can trust me, you'll just have to try. And Jimmy don't leave Retroville mall, if I come and you're not there I'll disappear. And Ed Mercy knows a lot about what's being going on recently. You understand?"

"I understand Sheen, I won't move from this spot. You just get the evidence, alright?"

"Yeah." Sheen hung up, and made his way through the corridors trying to find Mercy's office. The explosion had bought him valuable time, time which he could use to do what he needed to do. He found Ed's office after five minutes, it was a tiny cubicle cramped into a room. Ed was treated horribly, he couldn't even have a decent office. Sheen searched through the draws, and found the folder. He made to leave, and headed towards the main room. There was people there, Ed wouldn't dare kill him in front of witnesses.

Sheen entered the main room, and found customers being reassured that everything wad fine. He was about to leave when he heard gunshots.

"Stay where you are Estevez! And everybody else just stay quiet, this won't take long." Ed walked into the centre of the room, and pointed his gun at the manager of the bank.

"You treated me like dirt, well now you're going to pay." The bullet went straight through the elderly man, and left him lying dead on the floor. It was horrible.

Then all of a sudden a group of soldiers burst into the bank, Eustace's soldiers. And they were led by Captain D.

"If you all stay silent, then nobody will be killed." D shouted, and the people in the bank became deadly silent.

"Glad you're on time." Ed told the Captain, and the figure nodded slowly.

"Glad you're dead." He told him, and Ed looked confused.

"But I'm not dead." He stated still perplexed over the Captain's words.

"Oh, sorry my mistake." Captain D raised his gun and fired into Mercy's head.

"You're dead now." The soldiers began to spread about the bank, the Captain was holding everyone hostage.

Eustace stood by the mall, and smiled. He had a small child in his arms, and he intended to use it to his advantage.

"Come out Jimmy! Come out now, or the child will die. Its your choice fight me, or have a three-year-old die. You have a minute to decide."

Jimmy thought about it, Sheen should have been arriving any minute. He had to stay where he was, or Sheen would vanish. But if he stayed then a child would die. He had to decide, Sheen or the child."

"Ten seconds!" Jimmy made his choice, he walked over to the doors and opened them.

"I'm here." He told the evil master, and he left Sheen to his fate...

A.N. Check out my forum people!-badwolf1.


	24. Chapter 24

_**Chapter 24- Three cheers for sweet revenge.**_

Eustace smirked as Jimmy walked out of the mall to save the child, the genius was far too predictable. The machines parted for Jimmy, they knew his life was the masters to take.

"I'm here Strych, now let the child go." Eustace grinned sickly.

"Fine." He made a sudden movement, and dropped the child. Jimmy caught the small boy, and found his neck snapped. Eustace had killed the boy, it was a trap. Jimmy cursed himself for being so stupid, Eustace could finish him now. This was all a trap, and the teenager had stepped right into it. Jimmy looked around, there was no way out.

"Goodbye Jimmy Neutron." Eustace raised the blaster, and pointed it at Jimmy.

"No Goobot to save you this time." He fired, and the blast struck Jimmy in the chest. The genius was flung back, and he stayed still. Eustace stared, he was expecting his enemy to rise up again any moment. But nothing happened, and the lord of shadows have a horrible chuckle. He had done it, he had killed Jimmy Neutron. His vengeance was complete.

"Three cheers for sweet revenge." He laughed cruelly, and then ordered the machines to retreat.

"Destroy the city, and then we can leave! The plan will be complete soon!" The machines left to destroy everything, and Eustace left Jimmy's body to rot in the streets...

Captain D had the entire bank hostage, Ed Mercy's dead body had been moved, and now the Captain was giving instructions to random guards.

"Surround the perimeter, make sure nothing gets in or out!" Seven different soldiers left to complete the task, and now only fivestayed with the Captain.

Sheen was grateful that D hadn't noticed him yet, something told the boy he wouldn't be welcomed by the evil Captain.

"You! Show me your computer!" D was now giving orders to an employee of the bank, who showed him the computer screen whilst shaking. D examined the machine, and once it appeared he was satisfied he continued giving orders to the man.

"Contact the military, have them send a helicopter over at once. Tell them it will be transporting a package, and that is urgent." D pointed a gun at the man, and he began to type furiously.

"Done." He said after a few minutes, and the Captain nodded in approval.

"You are." He shot the man, and turned away. The bank was completely under his control.

Cindy and the others ran out to Jimmy, and Cindy grinned.

"They're gone Jimmy, you can stop now." There was a flash of light, and then Jimmy was standing next to the friends again.

"But how?" Carl questioned, amazed and pleased that his best friend was still alive.

"I was done for, until I formed a hologram of the image of a dead Jimmy. In reality I was sitting smiling, but all Eustace could see was my dead body." Cindy smiled, and Jimmy smiled back.

"Now we can strike against Eustace, and he shouldn't expect anything." Carl said excited, and the others agreed. They set off, intent on destroying the dark lord.

Sheen stared as Captain D sat waiting for the helicopter, the teenager was growing ever more anxious by the second. He felt that he had to do something, but he didn't know what. No doubt Jimmy believed him to be a traitor again, so there was no point in contacting the genius. He had to stop whatever was going on, something told him the world depended on it. Sheen suddenly felt braver, he had faced off against some of the most despicable creatures in the universe with Jimmy; and now he realised: Being a hero wasn't about fighting and getting the girl, and looking really cool. It was about standing up for those you believe in, for the people who were attacked who didn't deserve it. It was about making a stand for good, that was Jimmy did. And Sheen realised that he could do the same, he could be a hero.

"Let these people go D. They're not important." Sheen stood up as he was speaking, until he was face to face with the Captain.

"Sheen! Ed seemed to think you were dead. Well it looked as if he could predict the future, because you'll be dead very soon." D snarled the last part of his speech, and Sheen didn't even blink.

"Just let the people go, I don't care what happens to me." D smiled.

"A noble statement Sheen, but don't think it will work. You and the others will stay where you are, until I have to leave. Which will be very soon." Sheen stepped towards the Captain, and stared straight at him challenging him.

"Who are you? And why did you frame me?"

"I can't reveal my identity, and I framed you because you're an idiot. You even lost Libby to that pathetic Nick Dean, he was weak." Sheen looked startled.

"Nick is dead?" Even though he was wearing a mask, Sheen knew the Captain was smiling.

"Nick Dean is gone, completely destroyed." Sheen backed away, amazed that Nick was gone. They had never been good friends, and Nick had stole Libby from him. But it was still a shock to discover he gone, to know that he would never see the face again...

Jimmy and the others crept up on Eustace, and fired. The blast had the desired effect, the machines spun round to see their attacker. And they met the fury of Jimmy, the genius quickly destroyed machine after machine. Eustace looked surprised as the group began their assault, but he quickly recovered from the shock.

"Why won't you die Neutron!" He drew a laser sword, and attacked. Jimmy met him with his blasts, and they became locked in a duel. Eustace was elusive, not pressing the attack, he began an assault; but then withdrew quickly. Jimmy was perplexed by the attack, it was if Eustace didn't want them all dead; as if he was playing for time...

"What do you really want Eustace? This isn't a proper battle, you're delaying this for a reason now what is it?" Jimmy demanded answers as he fought the evil master, but he received none. Eustace wasn't going to reveal any of his secrets...

The helicopter came down, and machines loaded something on to it. It was some sort of mechanism, and realisation dawned on Sheen as he stared at the item. He turned to look at D, but he was already leaving in the helicopter.

"Wait!" Sheen shouted, but D flew off. Sheen began to run, he had to reach Jimmy. He had to warn him of what Eustace had planned.

"What are you up to Strych?" Eustace smiled, and he forced the teenage genius back.

"Its too late to stop me now Jimmy! My plan will succeed, and the Earth will be reduced to dust!"

"What is your plan?" Jimmy shouted, and someone else answered him.

"He's got a bomb." Jimmy turned and saw Sheen looking at Eustace, malice in the young boy's eyes.

"A bomb?" Jimmy questioned Eustace, the lord of shadows laughed triumphantly.

"Yes a bomb! A bomb that when it detonates will eradicate the human race! In three hours humanity will be gone, and I will create a new race; with which I can dominate the universe." Eustace smiled cruelly.

"Welcome to doomsday."


	25. Chapter 25

_**Chapter 25- Countdown.**_

Jimmy looked startled as Eustace laughed triumphantly, there was no way the former billionaire could be stopped now.

"You know that is over Jimmy, you can't stop my bomb." Jimmy took a step forward, and smiled.

"I can try Eustace, and we both know that that thought frightens you more than anything." The lord of shadows returned Jimmy's smile, and this unnerved the genius.

"You hold yourself in such high esteem Jimmy, don't you realise that you have fufilled your destiny?" Jimmy's eyes opened wide, and he looked Eustace straight in the eye.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Eustace laughed.

"You mean you don't know! You have no idea of what you were destined to do, you truly are a fool. Don't worry Jimmy, you've completed the task you were born to do." Jimmy looked worried, Eustace's knowing smile had traces of confidence; and hate. Whatever this destiny was, Jimmy knew he wouldn't like it.

"Where is this bomb?" Jimmy inquired, swiftly changing the subject.

"As if I would reveal such valuable information, this is my master plan Jimmy. This is the final threat, if this fails I have no secondary plan."

"So all I have to do is stop you then." Jimmy stated simply, and Eustace's face remained emotionless.

"Yes, but I happen to know that you can't. The final countdown has just begun, you have three hours." Eustace disappeared in a flash of light, and left Jimmy behind. The genius was furious, he had allowed himself to waste time arguing with Eustace. How could he have been so stupid? Cindy made to say how sorry she was, and that she would love him no matter what happened. But Jimmy cut her off before she could even begin.

"Everybody back to the lab! We don't have much time!" Jimmy took Cindy's hand, and they began to run together. The others followed at a good pace, they had to save the world.

Jimmy sat working at his computer, he was attempting to trace the bomb via satellite imaging. Cindy was sitting beside him, their hands were still joined, as Jimmy tried frantically to stop Eustace.

Sheen and Libby stood together both feeling extremely awkward about what to say. Libby eventually broke the silence that had surrounded the former couple.

"I thought you were a traitor, how could you let us all believe that?" Sheen looked startled, he had expected light conversation before they would discuss the events that had taken place.

"Let you believe it! You chose to believe it, how could I persuade you to change your mind? Especially since your own common sense couldn't show you that you had been duped, and that I had been set up!" Sheen hissed the words, and Libby took great offence at them.

"You know I thought there was still hope for us, but it looks like I was wrong." Libby whispered, shaking her head.

"Well then that's twice you've been wrong about something that involved me." Sheen said simply, and he walked away to see how Carl was doing. Libby attempted to resist the urge to burst into tears there and then as Sheen ignored her.

Jimmy looked over to Carl and Sheen, and he felt sad. If Carl hadn't been friends with him, then his Dad would still be alive. Carl had been targeted becuase of his friendship with Jimmy, and the teenage genius would always feel sorry for that.

"Cindy can you take over for a minute?" Cindy nodded, and took Jimmy's place. She began to trawl through military recordings, trying to find footage of the missing helicopter.

Jimmy stood by Carl, and cleared his throat to announce his presence. Carl was looking at a photo of his Dad, and Jimmy could tell he was still extremely shaken by what Desmond Hunt had done.

"Carl, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry about your Dad." Carl looked surprised, why was Jimmy apologising?

"Jimmy, it isn't your fault. It was Hunt, you didn't kill my Dad." Jimmy shook his head.

"I know, but I feel responsible for what happened. Hunt only captured you because you're friends with me, it was all my fault. I'm so sorry Carl, and I understand if you hate me." Jimmy waited for the reaction, but it wasn't the one he was expecting.

"Jimmy, I'm glad I'm friends with you. You'll never understand how happy I am that we met, you've saved me thousands of times. I made the choice to be your friend, and I stand by it. Adventures with you; I wouldn't miss them for the world. Now go on and save everybody, I know you can." Jimmy grinned, Carl was right. Here and now was what mattered.

Libby looked as Sheen and Carl talked and tried to help Jimmy, what had happened to their relationship? How could they have come to this? She loved Sheen, but it was whether he would return the feelings. Perhaps she could bury the feelings inside, maybe that would work for a while. But Libby knew it would only work for a short time, feelings couldn't be hidden forever. Still she had time, it wasn't as if Sheen would just disappear. It was Sheen, the class clown, the boy who everybody liked; but at the same time hated. He couldn't just vanish, somehow he was always spared. Still Libby felt a dark feeling coming, and it was all around her. She felt as if she didn't have much time left.

Jimmy began to type faster and faster, he could tell he was close. Cindy squeezed his hand reassuringly, she knew he could do it.

"Found it!" Jimmy shouted excited, and everyone gathered around him.

"You found the bomb?" Carl inquired, happy that everything would soon be back to normal. Jimmy shook his head.

"No, but I've got the military video of the chopper's route. We can track it via the video, and then find the bomb." Everyone cheered, and then the computers began to make beeping noises.

"Oh no!" Jimmy cried out, and he began to download the video as fast as possible.

"What's happening?" Cindy screamed as the alarms became louder.

"The military found me! They're shutting us down! They're erasing my files!" Jimmy looked as the lights suddenly went off, and all of his computers shut down.

"They drained the power..." Jimmy murmured to himself, as the emergency power he had installed lit up the room. The computer screens switched on with huge words wrote in bright red.

_**Access denied.**_

Jimmy looked at the screens, and said nothing. The military had cut him off at the source, now without the video he could never find the bomb. Everything was doomed...


	26. Chapter 26

_**Chapter 26- Hope.**_

Jimmy slammed his fists down on the computer, without power he could never find the bomb. He looked around the room, but he could find nothing to assist him.

"Maybe we should just give up." Carl suggested it lightly, and Jimmy shook his head violently.

"That's not even an option, as long as there is one tiny bit of hope we'll carry on fighting." Carl hated sounding so pessimistic, but he had to question whether there was any hope at all.

"But Jimmy, we have no power. We don't have anything, how is there hope?" Everyone looked at Carl, his words had hit a harsh truth. There was no real hope, they needed some source of power.

"I'm not done yet, I'll think of something." Jimmy said stubbornly, and he began to search. Jimmy wasn't going to let Eustace destroy Earth, not while he was still alive.

Sheen watched his best friend probe for something that could save them all, and he looked over at Libby. She was as beautiful as ever, but he couldn't trust her. He couldn't really trust any of his 'friends' anymore. But for some strange reason Sheen had decided to rest his fate in their hands, he just hoped he wouldn't live to regret it.

Eustace smiled from high on his own personal battleship, he watched Jimmy struggle against all odds to beat him. The dark lord knew that Jimmy's efforts were pointless, he could not be stopped. Captain D approached slowly, his mask off his face.

"Captain, I trust there were no problems with the bomb?"

"No my lord, everything went according to plan. How is Neutron?"

"He attempts to stop us, but that is not a problem. Neutron's petty efforts are futile, the genius is now irrelevant." The Captain remained unconvinced, Neutron was cunning.

"He could yet muster one final attack sir, I will put a guard on the bomb." Eustace considered it, then agreed with his faithful servant.

"Good thinking my old friend, now prepare yourself. Soon we shall reign as gods." Captain D smiled, Neutron was doomed. He would have vengeance yet...

Jimmy looked at his watch, he had only two hours left. All he needed was power, just a drop of power would be enough. He could find nothing, without power he couldn't restart his computers. Suddenly he stopped, a thought had struck him. He grinned, and began to run around like a madman.

"Jimmy are you alright?" Carl asked concerned for his friend. Jimmy completely ignored the question, and carried on mumbling to himself.

"Come on please, just give me what I need..." Jimmy smiled when he found a large satellite, and laughed triumphantly. He looked around, and ran outside laughing the entire time. Cindy and Carl followed, disturbed and worried by their friends eccentricity.

Jimmy ran out and hit himself on the head.

"Why didn't I think of this quicker?" He pointed at Cindy's bedroom.

"Cind, have you still got that laptop I got you for your birthday?" Cindy nodded.

"Of course, but my house doesn't have power either."

"I know, I just need a battery. Then I can access the military."

"I don't have a battery powerful enough!" Cindy exclaimed, and Carl shrugged his shoulders.

"I have enough power." Said a tiny robotic voice, and there stood Goddard.

"You can't, you won't have enough power to function." Jimmy said quietly, and Goddard replied.

"I know, but this is more important." Jimmy wiped a tear from his eye.

"Goodbye my old friend." Goddard ejected his battery, and instantly he began to shut down. Then he powered down, he was left running on spare power. He had no use. Jimmy stared at his companion, his power would run out within the hour. Once he fully powered down, he would self-destruct. Jimmy gazed for a little longer, and then ran into Cindy's house.

He started up the laptop, and inserted the battery. Within minutes Jimmy had hacked into the military, and he was entered the restricted zones.

"Found you." He muttered, and nodded to Carl. The boy linked up the satellite, and pointed it at the lab. Jimmy pressed one button, and instantly every light in the lab lit up. The military site powered down, and vanished. Jimmy shut down the laptop, and returned to his computer.

"What did you do?" Libby asked, delighted that Eustace could be stopped again.

"I reversed the energy drain, we've got the army's power supply; and they can't swtich it off!" Jimmy turned to Carl, and grinned madly.

"We have hope Carl! I told you there was hope!" All the while Jimmy couldn't stop smiling as he began to work once more.

"Neutron is back online sir, he is near the bomb." Captain D informed Eustace of the grave news, and the dark lord grew angry.

"Send troops down to his lab! Destroy him!" Captain D bowed and walked away, as Eustace laughed. Only an hour and a half to go...


	27. Chapter 27

_**Chapter 27- Found it!**_

The hands typed quicker than they ever had done before, the sharp blue eyes scanned the information at an amazing rate, and tiny beads of sweat appeared on Jimmy's forehead as he tried to find the bomb. Cindy watched the love of her life anxiously, praying to herself that he would save them all. Time was running out, only an hour and a half remained. And there something more in the atmosphere, a deep shadow that hung over them all. Death. Cindy couldn't get rid of the feeling that, very soon, one of the group would be dead and buried.

Carl and Sheen sat together in the corner of the lab, Carl was sitting here to mull over events that had occurred recently, and Sheen had left the main group because of Libby.

"Do you think that souls rest when they die?" Carl asked suddenly, springing the question on Sheen from nowhere.

"I don't know Carl, I suppose so. Why?" Carl slowly drifted away, Sheen could tell that his friend's mind was very much preoccupied by something that was haunting him.

"I feel as if my Dad isn't resting, almost as if there's something that needs to be done first. I just don't know what, I mean his death has been avenged; what else is there to do?" Sheen shook his head, sorry he couldn't be of more assistance to his friend.

"I'm sorry Carl, but I just don't know what there is to say. Maybe that feeling will go away in time." Sheen suggested it lightly, sad that after everything they had been through together; he couldn't reassure Carl when he needed it most.

Jimmy continued to type, he could tell he was near.

"Cindy hand me a microchip." His girlfriend did as he asked, and Jimmy finally found a link to the video file he had seen previously. He began to download it onto the microchip, which he could then install into a projector. With that done, he could find where the bomb was.

"How long will the download take?" Cindy asked nervously, hoping it would leave them with enough time to find the bomb.

"About twenty minutes, and then installing it should take a few seconds." Cindy looked at her watch.

"That leaves us with an hour to stop this then, and then what do we do?" Jimmy looked darkly at her, and then looked up at the roof; almost as if his piercing eyes could see deep into space.

"Then we stop Eustace once and for all, then we end this. I won't rest until he pays for the lives he taken, either he dies; or I die."

Eustace looked at Jimmy, and laughed cruelly. He was watching the drama unfold via a hidden camera, and it amused him to hear Jimmy's words.

"You want to kill me Jimmy! How ironic, the creator wants to destroy his creation. Well good luck in saving the Earth Jimmy, but I don't think you'll have much luck. You can't even save yourself." Eustace smiled, and prepared to watch his machine squad attack the lab. It was time for Neutron to pay.

Jimmy watched the video download, and turned to look at Cindy. She was talking to Libby, no doubt their conversation involved Sheen in some shape or form. Jimmy was so pleased to have finally revealed his feelings for Cindy, suddenly his life seemed to be so much better. It was funny that Eustace had brought them together, if it weren't for his intervention they never would have run away together. Jimmy would always remember the Island with fond memories, it was where he had realised what he had felt for Cindy.

Cindy walked away from Libby, and the young teenager was left feeling confused. Cindy had indeed been speaking to her about Sheen, and Libby now knew she was facing a huge decision. She could tell Sheen how she felt, or keep quiet. She made her choice, she would keep quiet. Sheen had enough on his mind, and she could tell him another time. Once they saved the Earth, and everyone was safe, she would tell him.

The machines blasted the lab door open, and panic descended on the group. Jimmy dived towards the chip, and stared at it miserably. It needed two more minutes, and Jimmy didn't know whether they could survive long enough. He started towards the generators, but the machines saw him and blasted them into a thousand pieces. Everyone stared in disbelief, their only real chance of fighting Eustace was gone.

"Take these!" Jimmy cried out, and threw his friends laser swords. The machines charged, and more flooded into the lab. Carl was overwhelmed as they attacked, and he was surrounded by three of them. Libby and Cindy were fighting back to back, and Sheen was on top of a table battling them on a higher level. Jimmy fought off one machine, and grabbed his chip.

"Cindy! Grab a portable projector!" Cindy nodded, and looked at Libby giving her a thumbs up. The girls twisted around, and Cindy escaped in the following confusion. She snatched a projector from a desk, and spotted a metal case: Goddard. He had almost exhausted himself of power, and Cindy realised that when he did he would self-destruct. She looked around, and shouted to her friends.

"Over here, quick!" They gathered around her, and Cindy picked up Goddard in her arms. He had about a minute worth of power left in his body, it had to be now. She pressed a button on the console, and looked at the machines.

"So long." The group was sucked out of the lab, and as she vanished Cindy threw Goddard down into the midst of the androids. A mighty explosion followed, and the lab burst into a magnificent forest of flame.

Jimmy could only gaze at what had once been his lab, he felt as if he had lost two friends. Goddard and the lab.

"Its gone." He murmured the words, unable to believe that all his hard work was decimated.

"Jimmy we don't have time." Cindy muttered the words softly, but they had the desired effect on Jimmy. He inserted the chip into the projector, and activated it. The projection showed the bomb being deposited at an old factory, ten miles away from Jimmy's house. Jimmy continued to watch as the helicopter pilot was shot dead by Captain D, and dragged away.

"That's horrible." Libby said horrified that anyone could be so merciless.

"Just one more life Eustace will pay for." Jimmy stated, and he walked into the house garage. He brought out the hovercar, and the group sat in it. Little did Jimmy know, that soon one of the group would die at the dark lord's order. Little did he know that this battle was only the beginning. Little did Jimmy know that Earth was only the start of Eustace's rampage.

"Time for the final confrontation." Jimmy said, and he drove towards the abandoned factory. Everything was at stake now.

A.N. And here we go! The final dark chapters of Rising Darkness are coming! We have next, Chapter 28- Origin. In then next chapter, Earth's fate is shown, one of the group is murdered, and the identity of Captain D is revealed, then we have 29, 30, and an epilogue! Lets get to 100 reviews people!-badwolf1.


	28. Chapter 28

_**Chapter 28- Origin.**_

_**Here it is, the chapter that wraps it all up. I just want to thank: Acosta, Kingdom219, Geoff Welch, Snowboarder9, heck everyone who has reviewed this story! Thank you all so much! And here is the chapter you've all been, hopefully, waiting for. As ever, read and review!-badwolf1.**_

The cold wind bit into the skin of the group as they arrived at their destination, and everyone looked around apprehensively. The factory was a true sign of an industrial revolution that, despite Retroville's being behind the times, was truly a thing of the past. The steel scaffolding told a story of refurbishment, the work was clearly never finished. The outside of the building was gloomy, old and it projected a dark unfriendly atmosphere. Just being near such a place made Jimmy feel uncomfortable, he was not used to such antisocial surroundings.

"Well are you ever going to enter, or you just going to admire once fine architecture?" Jimmy wheeled around, and saw Eustace Strych standing behind the group. The dark lord walked towards them, one pressure building step at a time.

"What do you want Eustace? Its over, we've found the bomb. I will disarm it, I'm telling you now. This is over." Jimmy placed particular emphasis on the last three words of his speech, taking time to sound confident and ready to fight.

"You're wrong once again Jimmy. This is only the beginning." Eustace smiled, and flew up into the air; so that he hovered just above the factory.

"I'm ending this today, once and for all! I'm going to make sure that you pay for what you've done!"

"Strong words, back them up." Eustace was completely unaffected by the teenager's threats, they made no difference to his confidence whatsoever.

Jimmy was confused by Eustace's attitude, he had expected the lord of shadows to attack and kill him immediately. Instead he simply bragged about his victory, something that wasn't even a certainty.

"What are you up to Eustace? Why aren't you trying to stop us?" Eustace smiled, and Jimmy had a sinking feeling. Eustace wasn't going to stop them, but everything that was loyal to him would.

"I won't stop you Jimmy! But they might." The words confirmed Jimmy's deepest fears, he turned and saw an army of machines. Led by Captain D.

"Has everyone got a weapon?" Jimmy asked, drawing his own sword at the same time. Cindy turned to him abruptly.

"You can't expect us to fight them!" Jimmy nodded, and looked into her eyes.

"Cindy you told me to the end." Jimmy turned away, and gazed at the advancing soldiers.

"Well this is the end." Cindy wiped a tear away at her boyfriend's words, and drew her own laser sword. The others followed suit, each and every one of them worried; but at the same time each and every one of them wanted this to be over.

Captain D stopped about ten metres away from Jimmy, he looked at the genius.

"Care to give up Jimmy? I wouldn't like these odds. I'll let you surrender, but give me your lovely girlfriend." The Captain's tone was taunting, he knew that his forces greatly outnumbered Jimmy's.

"I would never give her up, especially not to someone as pathetic and cruel as you." The Captain didn't even move, he simply allowed the insult to bounce off him.

"When you see humanity reduced to ashes you'll think differently Jimmy, and when I torture you I shall make sure that you regret your perilous decision." The Captain pointed at the tiny group.

"Slaughter them, but keep Neutron alive." The machine's charged, and Jimmy endured the force of hundreds androids crashing into him. He was in tremendous pain, but he still fought.

Cindy has been separated from her friends, and she was keeping five machines at bay. She cut off one's arms, and used them as a club. More came, and once more she was kicked from behind. She rolled out of the way, and just narrowly avoided having her head cut off. She put her sword through one more android, and grinned.

"Hope you kept the warranty." She said, and attacked again.

Sheen was up against a wall as the robots came closer, he timed it perfectly and threw his sword through one's head. It exploded, and so did the others. More assaulted him, and he dived through one machine's legs. He quickly turned, and stabbed it from behind.

"Bring it on." He muttered, and set out to destroy more androids.

Carl walked backwards, attracting as many machines as possible. He was luring them to somewhere he had noticed when they had arrived, and now he was using to its fullest potential. He backed up against the scaffolding, and shouted.

"This is for you Dad!" He slashed the scaffolding, and it began to collapse. Carl moved out of the way, and at least one hundred machines were crushed. Carl moved away, determined to use his surroundings to his advantage.

Libby wasn't battling machines, instead she was locked in combat with Captain D. There was only problem however, Libby wasn't experienced in using a laser sword. The Captain was, he was clearly a master of the weapon.

"Think you stand a chance against me?" He asked while he spun round, and Libby pressed the attack.

"I can hold you off long enough for my friends to disarm the bomb!" She screamed the words, and pushed him back.

"What about my charm?" He questioned her, and she scoffed as she tried to stab his chest.

"I'd never fall for you." The Captain laughed, and he began to move faster.

"I wouldn't be so sure." He moved much faster than Libby could she, and in one fluid swift movement severed three fingers. Libby shrieked in pain, while the Captain stood and laughed.

Everyone turned to see what had happened, and Jimmy cursed. There only half an hour left, they didn't have time for this. He destroyed two more machines, and looked towards the inside of the building. He just needed to get inside.

Sheen shouted in anger when he saw Libby, and forgetting the androids he was fighting he charged Captain D. The Captain met the charge head on, and then a new battle commenced.

"I'll kill you for that." Sheen spat furiously, and the Captain laughed.

"Just try it moron, I'll kill you before you can even touch me." Swords flashed, and the two moved like lightning to avoid the other. The blades met again, Sheen constantly attacking and drawing on his anger over Libby; the Captain mocking the teenager the entire time. Sheen leaned backwards to dodge an attack, and then tried to slice off the Captain's legs. The Captain eluded the aggressive attack, but Sheen brought his sword up; and struck the villain's face.

The Captain was in complete shock, part of his mask was gone; and a long wound was on the left side of his face. No doubt it would leave a scar, he was forever marked by Sheen Estevez.

"You'll pay for that." He snarled angrily.

"Sheen come on!" Jimmy had taken the moment to enter the dilapidated building, and Sheen helped Libby and followed.

The machines had approached D uncertainly, and he wheeled around to see Jimmy escaping. Wiping away blood that was on his face, he pointed at them and shouted ferociously.

"No you fools! Destroy them now!" It was too late, Jimmy had fled. He had locked the doors behind him, now it came down to whether Neutron could figure out how to disarm to bomb or not.

"Lock the doors." Carl obeyed the command, and locked the doors as Jimmy approached the bomb. He accessed the controls, and began to type faster than ever before. Soon he came to a password screen, and he was stuck. For all his genius, he couldn't figure it out. And he only had fifteen minutes left...

Sheen walked over to Libby, the teenager was staring miserably at her hand; and Sheen had made the brave decision to comfort her.

"How you doing?" He asked sympathetically.

"How do you think I'm doing?" She snapped, and Sheen stepped back.

"I'm in agony, I don't need you bothering me." Sheen was hurt, but he didn't show it.

"Fine then, its like you want me dead!" He shouted, and he walked angrily.

Jimmy and Cindy looked back momentarily to see what was going on, and then they continued their work.

Eustace and Captain D watched the building, waiting for the moment in which one their enemies would attempt to flee.

"Can Neutron defuse the bomb?" D asked whilst fingering his injury, he would always hate Sheen for that.

"It may be possible, but only if he can find the password. If he does stop it, revert back to the original plan." The Captain nodded, it would be his pleasure to eliminate one of Neutron's useless friends...

Libby stared at Sheen as he watched Jimmy, and she felt sad. She knew she had to tell him the truth, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She was scared, and it held her back. How could she tell him? Everything was wrong, she felt as if she was spiralling out of control. She needed to concentrate, to focus herself at one goal. But Sheen distracted her, he had the ability to make her forget everything else. She couldn't afford for that to happen now, not with the world at stake.

"He won't be around forever you know." Libby turned surprised to see Carl standing beside her.

"What do you mean?" She decided to play dumb, she didn't want to be drawn into a conversation.

"Sheen, he won't be around forever. We take him for granted, as if he'll always be there. He won't. You need to tell him the truth, you'll hate yourself if you don't." Carl's tone was different, it had more pain in it. He had changed.

"I don't what you're talking about Carl, I'm sorry but I don't. I just don't feel that way about Sheen anymore, and that's all there is to it." Carl shrugged his shoulders, and looked Libby straight in the eye.

"You're a bad liar." He walked away, and Libby felt worse than ever before.

Jimmy and Cindy tried everything they could think of, but the password eluded them. Jimmy was as determined as ever, but even his hope was beginning to fade. They only had five minutes left, and nothing worked. Jimmy slouched in his chair, and looked at Cindy glumly.

"Its over." She looked around, and took over from Jimmy.

"Not yet it isn't." She muttered, and she began to think. She wouldn't let the Earth by wiped out, she just wouldn't.

Sheen thought about the password, it would have to be something that Eustace wanted. Something he was obsessed with, something he could never forget. Sheen realised what it was, what Eustace wanted constantly, and what he had chosen as his password.

"I know what it is! Its nine letters long, and it has to be this!" Jimmy looked at Sheen wearily, he expected the word Ultralord to come out of his friends mouth. He consequently ignored him.

"I know what it is! Let me type!" Cindy turned to look at Sheen sadly.

"Look Sheen we know you're trying to help, but if we can't figure it out then what chance have you got?" Sheen looked at her shocked, she had been so direct with the words.

"Just trust me! For once trust me!" Jimmy stopped, the last time Sheen had said that he had died. Sheen looked at him mournfully, and Jimmy made his choice.

"Go for it Sheen." Sheen smiled, and ran to the computer. He typed the letters, and everyone gazed in amazement at the word forming on the screen.

_VENGEANCE._

The bomb shut down, it only had a minute left. The gang began to cheer, it was over. Earth was safe.

"Time for a little modification." Jimmy said elated.

"NO!" Eustace screamed the word, and suddenly he became enraged. He pointed at his machines.

"Decimate them now!"

Jimmy came out of the door grinning widely at Eustace, and suddenly he threw the bomb at the machines. Eustace snarled, and cast a shield around himself and the Captain. There was an explosion, and the machines were reduced to dust.

Jimmy and the others came out of the building laughing, and Libby felt an urge to tell Sheen how she felt. But she resisted, it could wait for another day.

"Did you see Eustace's face?" Carl said doubled up laughing, and everyone felt right again. There was a moment of silence, and Sheen collapsed. Everyone spun around, and saw a laser sword rammed through his chest.

"Sheen!" Jimmy rushed towards him, and saw Captain D standing behind the dying teenager. The Captain took off his mask, and Jimmy stepped away in shock.

"It can't be." Carl murmured overwhelmed.

"I told you I'd get him back." Said the smug, gloating face of Nick Dean...


	29. Chapter 29

_**Chapter 29- Revelations.**_

Jimmy stared at Nick, he was paralysed in shock.

"You died, you shouldn't even be alive!" Nick laughed.

"Yes, that is a popular misapprehension isn't it? Well I'm here alive and well, and out for vengeance."

"Why? Why did you join forces with Eustace?"

"I've known Eustace as long as you have Jimmy, and I've been helping to destroy you since I met him."

"But it doesn't make any sense, why would you want me dead?" Nick pointed at Cindy.

"You stole her from me!"

"What?" Jimmy was startled by the statement.

"Cindy was mine! I loved her, and you stole her!" Jimmy couldn't believe it.

"So how did you meet Eustace?"

"I met Eustace at the same competition you did, except we understood each other. It all began on that fateful day two years ago..."

_Nick Dean looked at the flying kites with an ounce of resentment, he should have been in the final. But no, once again, Neutron had had to show him up. Nick couldn't believe it, his entire reputation had been brought down to another level. All because of Jimmy Neutron. _

_Neutron, of course, won the final easily enough. The loser, Eustace Strych, looked furious as he walked away. _

_"That idiot Neutron's a pain isn't he?" Eustace turned in surprise, he wasn't used to being addressed in such a manner._

_"Yes he is, and who are you?" Nick smirked._

_"You're very direct aren't you? I'm Nick Dean, and I hate Jimmy Neutron." Eustace shook the child's hand reluctantly, not too sure of what was going to happen next._

_"What do you have against Neutron?" Eustace was intrigued by the boy, he clearly held deep and complex emotions within him. Nick pointed towards the blond girl bothering Jimmy, and Eustace nodded._

_"Who is that?" The billionaire had noticed the mysterious girl in the competition, and she too interested him. Eustace had always felt alone, but now he felt as though he had found people who he would never forget._

_"That is Cindy Vortex, smart, beautiful, strong, a good communicator, the list goes on. She used to be my girl, but now its obvious that Neutron is the only person for her." Eustace smiled, he felt as though he could manipulate this situation to his own advantage._

_"I'm sure I could strip Neutron of some of his prized possessions, tell me what is most valuable to him?" Nick smiled, this was one thing he did know about Neutron._

_"His mechanical dog, Goddard, take that and you've got him." Eustace again smiled that venomous smile, and Nick felt different. The boy felt as though he had been directed towards Eustace for some purpose, he knew that, somehow, the billionaire would change his life..._

_Nick carried on with his life over the following months, he had naturally assumed that Eustace had failed and was not interested in his assistance in Jimmy's downfall. The billionaire was now just an afterthought, Nick would destroy Jimmy himself. _

_Over the next few weeks Nick began to train himself to fight, to be able to use weapons, and if necessary, to kill. He taught himself how to spot advantages in the environment, and how to locate any weaknesses in an enemy. Nick pushed himself to the limit, and he soon found himself ready to take on Jimmy. He had long considered how to dispose of Neutron, whether to scare away from Cindy, whether to force him from contacting the girl, or whether to take truly drastic action: to terminate the genius. Nick had long since decided that this was an option, but doubts entered his mind. It was dangerous, but it could secure Cindy's love. He needed Jimmy out of the way, and a part of him reasoned that the dead could not interfere. But consciously Nick deemed it too risky, subconsciously he was already planning the murder. He was torn, when he received a message from Eustace. It told him to travel to his mansion immediately, and that the time had come to destroy Jimmy. Nick left at once, his mind already projecting various scenarios in which Jimmy met with a gruesome demise._

_Nick entered Eustace's house, and he instantly felt dwarfed. The place was huge, exquisite paintings hanging from every wall, priceless historical artifacts were in different halls, the entire building was magnificent. _

_Eustace was sitting and waiting for Nick, when the boy entered the room cautiously. _

_"I've called you here so that we can destroy Jimmy Neutron, will you join me or not?" Eustace was as direct asd Nick had previously been during their first encounter, and Nick nodded._

_"I'm willing to do what it takes to destroy Neutron." Eustace smiled, and a friendship was born..._

_Nick failed to go with Eustace during the next attack on Jimmy, he felt it was important he seemed to know nothing about what had happened. He was furious when Jimmy was victorious once again, and he vowed to kill the genius. He and Eustace spent hours training themselves for the final battle, and Nick agreed to keep an eye on Eustace's estate whilst the billionaire joined the league of villains. _

_Nick was the person who Eustace rang when he returned to Earth, and he organised Eustace's army. He was also the first person who Eustace recruited for his new army, and he quickly infiltrated Jimmy's group..._

Jimmy was astonished, Nick was a murderer. Sheen lay on the floor, Libby crying over his lifeless body. Jimmy felt like breaking down, he felt as though he could just fall to the floor and cry. But he couldn't. He looked as though he couldn't be hurt, as though none of this made a difference to him. Nobody really knew how much pain he had crushed down, he was only human. He had to seem strong, he just did. But now Sheen was dead, and all he felt like doing was crying.

"What's the matter Neutron?" Nick laughed, he was clearly enjoying himself.

"I also have something to tell you Neutron." Jimmy looked up at Eustace, and felt the shadow of gloom settle over him.

"Do you remember when I told you we were similar? Well that is more true than either of us realised." Jimmy began to become angry, they had been through this before.

"I'm not the same as you Strych! Get that through your metal skull!" Eustace paid no attention to the insult, and continued.

"I was looking at the time-line, and I found something very strange. It was like a crevice if you will, I looked through it and found events that shaped our universe. It appears that there was once an evil that was more powerful than anything, it had been released somehow and was trying to wipe out everything. Upon looking at the events I saw you battling it at a certain point in the past, you had a device that could be used to destroy DNA. You used the device but, predictably, something when wrong. It absorbed the creatures evil gene, and it absorbed some of your genius gene. It then combined the two, and transferred them into an unborn child. Me. Time then changed, all the events that had occurred rewrote themselves because I was now the ultimate evil. So you see Jimmy we are similar, you created me." Jimmy stepped back, not daring to believe anything that he had just been told. It was too much to take in, his DNA rested within Eustace's body.

"That was your destiny Jimmy, to ensure the ultimate evil could be placed in a human body to make sure it could destroy everything."

"That may have been my destiny once Eustace, but now I've got a new destiny: to kill you!" Eustace laughed, and he looked at the defiant group.

"The war begins today Jimmy, the war between my forces and that of the rest of the universe. The next time we meet will be the final time, as of this moment endgame has begun." Eustace vanished in a blinding flash of light, but Nick stayed behind. He drew his laser sword, and stared at Libby.

"You really fell for it Libby, you thought your stupid boyfriend was the traitor." Nick fingered his scar, and then he threw his sword at Libby with amazing accuracy. It struck her cheek, and it too would leave a scar. It was on the opposite cheek to Nick's, they would be forever marked. Nick too then disappeared, leaving them alone with the dead Sheen...

A.N. Well one more chapter...


	30. Chapter 30

_**Chapter 30- Funeral.**_

"You can't do that!" An angry voice shouted, and he waited a few moments before hearing the reply.

"Mr Neutron we understand your distress, but there is nothing more we can do. It would cause a mass panic."

"People deserve to know how Sheen Estevez died, it is an insult to his memory not to grant them that right."

"To announce that Sheen died whilst Eustace Strych attempted to wipe out humanity would cause a panic, which would lead to riots. The police cannot, and will not take that chance."

"The people deserve to know how Sheen saved them all, how he saved everyone on this planet! They need to know of the threat that Eustace issued, of how the shadow of death hangs over their heads!" Jimmy was furious, he had been debating this for an over an hour. It was clearly too late to change the chief's mind, pursuing this any longer would only prove to be futile.

"You can't stop me from telling them." Jimmy told him, and the cheif looked down at him.

"We can Mr Neutron, and believe me; and we will." Jimmy drew himself up to his full height, and he looked quite threatening.

"Don't you dare try to intimidate me sir, I have lost one of my best friends. Don't you dare try to stop me, or I will be forced to take action against you." Jimmy swept out of the chief's office without another word, and he left the man flustered.

Cindy joined her boyfriend as he left the area, and comforted him, slipping her arm around his shoulders.

"You'll get the truth out Jimmy, you don't have to feel as guilty as you do." Jimmy sighed, he had felt responsible for Sheen's demise.

"I'm going to go see Libs, Will you be okay?" Jimmy nodded, and Cindy slipped away from him. He couldn't help but feel as though everything had been his fault, and in an odd way he was right, because it had been. He had made Eustace, his genes rested within the evil master. Parts of his genius lay inside the DNA of the person within the robotic shell, that explained Eustace's intelligence. Soon he would have to face his own genius, in a battle to the bitter end. He went to Sheen's parents home, he had to tell them what the police had said.

Cindy came to Libby's bedroom door, and hesitated. She was, for the first time, unsure what to do next. Libby had been hurt by Sheen's death, Cindy was sad as well; but Libby would never be the same. And neither would Jimmy. That thought rested within her mind for a moment, and it bothered her. She loved him, and she always would. But he was damaged, wounded in a way that could never be healed. They had all changed, but Jimmy and Libby were not who they once were. Cindy drew a large breath, and opened the door to reveal hell.

"They're going to lie about Sheen's death?" Mr Estevez was shocked and furious, and Jimmy nodded.

"How can they do that?" Mrs Estevez was distraught at her son's murder, and now she was astonished that anyone could be so heartless to let him die without honour.

"Don't worry." Jimmy told her, and she looked down at him.

"What are you going to do Jimmy?" Mr Estevez asked him reluctantly, he trusted Jimmy, but he didn't want to see the teenager in trouble.

"What I have to do." Jimmy walked out of the house, and he headed towards the lab.

"Libby what are you doing?" Cindy screamed, and her friend ignored her. The room was horrific, blood was splattered on the walls, paper was torn everywhere, rubbish cluttered the floor, a horrible stench occupied the air. A single note lay on the floor amidst the mess, Cindy picked it up and read it in alarm.

_To the finder of this note,_

_Goodbye. I am now with Sheen, and I can tell him how I feel about him. I bequeath my possessions to my family, with the exception of my music. Which I will pass onto Cindy Vortex. Goodbye._

_From the now dead Libby Folfax._

"Libby stop!" Cindy screamed at her friend, and Libby finally paid her some attention. The girl looked terrible, she had clearly been crying for hours, her hair was not done up, her clothes were creased and blood soaked, and her face was dripping more blood.

"Libby please stop." Cindy murmured the words, trying to reach her friend within.

"Sheen needs me..." Libby whispered this to nobody in particular, and she picked up a sharp knife.

"So long and goodnight." She attempted to plunge the blade through her body, but Cindy stopped her.

"Libby listen to me, I need you, Jimmy needs you. We all need you! Wake up, please God just wake up..."

"Cindy?" Libby snapped out of her trance-like state, and as she looked around she began to cry. Cindy hugged her, and muttered shakily.

"We'll get through this..."

Carl was lifting weights when Jimmy came in, he rushed to his friend and helped him into a chair. Jimmy had obviously had a stressful day.

"So what are the police going to do?" Carl inquired, and Jimmy told him.

"You're not going to let them do this are you?" Carl could tell that Jimmy wasn't going to allow the police to get away with this.

"No, I'm not going to let them. I'm going to tell everyone the truth." Carl gazed at Jimmy for a second, and nodded.

"What do you need me to do?" Jimmy grinned.

The day of the funeral arrived, and Jimmy had managed to get almost all of Retroville into the event. He had also put up a video link on to the Internet, people all over the world would see this.

Cindy stood up, and began to say her speech.

"I knew Sheen Estevez for thirteen years, and I always thought he was goofy. But I realised that was what made him so like-able, and that it was his defining quality. My single greatest regret in life is that I didn't spend much time with him as I could have, he was a good friend, a good person, and he will missed." Cindy voice faltered during the speech, and she was led off the platform in tears. Now it was Jimmy's turn.

Libby hadn't be able to make a speech because she would break down, so she was kept in the audience. Carl had said his respects at the beginning of the funeral, and he was now standing by the gates. It was necessary for him to be there if Jimmy's plan was to work.

Carl watched as Cindy was led away, and he felt a hot surge of hate for Eustace Strych. Carl had evolved over the past few days, now he was different. He was working out, he was making sure he didn't fall behind in class. His Dad's eradication has made him into a different person.

Jimmy stood on the large platform, and he cleared his throat anxiously.

"Sheen Estevez was one of my best friends. I'd known him for six years, and yet I'm ashamed to say that I've not shed a tear over his annihilation." The entire audience gasped, and some began to take steps towards him. But Jimmy then continued. "I felt as though I had to be strong enough to handle death, as though if I was crushed by it then it would seem as if I was weak. But Sheen was my friend regardless, he was great person, someone who was always friendly, and someone who deserved to have every-one's respect. I know he shall have mine." The crowd settled down again, and they all gazed at Jimmy; expecting that to be the end of the speech.

"But there is another reason I shall always admire him, and that is that he died to save you all. Sheen Estevez saved the Earth, and died because of it."

The police, who were near the gate, prepared to charge the platform, when Carl activated his laser sword and pointed it at the chief.

"Now don't move." He whispered smiling, and the police stepped back.

"Sheen disarmed a bomb that, if it had detonated, would have reduced the human race to dust. This bomb was activated by Eustace Strych who, contrary to popular beliefs, is still alive and well. Sheen was murdered on his order by Nick Dean, a traitor who was working with Strych. I tell you this because Eustace has declared war on Earth, and all other planets. I urge you to help me design an army, we must stand together if we are to oppose this threat. Pass this message on: We are at war, and we must form a great army to survive. Or we will perish at the hands of Eustace Strych."

Jimmy left the platform as people began to discuss the dark news, and he watched as they shuffled out; still chattering away. Cindy touched his arm.

"Are you going to be alright alone?" Jimmy smiled at her sincerity.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Go look after Libby." Cindy nodded, and as she walked away she turned around.

"I love you Jimmy."

"I love you too." She wandered out of the graveyard, and Jimmy was left alone.

The clear sky began to darken and rain began to pour, and Jimmy Neutron sat by Sheen's grave.

"So long and goodnight." He choked on the words, and soon onlookers couldn't tell what was rain on Jimmy's face, and what was the stream of tears pouring from his eyes as he broke down...

_**The End. For now...**_


End file.
